General

  Art dealers are a prosecuted minority.  So it came as no surprise when I fielded a call recently from a collector who was wondering how we distinguish ourselves from other Picasso vendors. This was a timely question–art fraud and related misconduct, though sadly commonplace, have spiked in the headlines rather conspicuously of late.  The Panama Papers are but the latest bombshell to explode.  More dramatically, perhaps you heard that the Qatari royal family, in a dispute involving an alleged double-sale of a plaster to them and to Gagosian, tried to seize it from Picasso’s daughter Maya Widmaier-Picasso, from her apartment no less.  (It wasn’t there—it was on view at the time in the Picasso Sculpture exhibit at the MOMA.)  Gagosian, who was

  In channeling Picasso earlier today–you see, he comes to me at critical moments–the old man wanted to make sure I get the word out.  My Spanish is better than my French, so he usually speaks to me in his mother tongue.  My lack of fluency engenders misunderstanding at times, but today there was nothing lost in translation–his meaning was clear: Picasso has officially endorsed Bernie Sanders! Picasso was of course a capitalist, not to mention the wealthiest artist in history.  He was also a member of the Communist Party, though that should be viewed in its historical context.  As a member of the French intelligentsia back then, there was a clear dichotomy: you were either a fascist or you were a communist. Though he

  This post is ostensibly about the blockbuster Picasso Sculpture show at the MOMA, but first a bit of kvelling.  Our 13-year-old daughter Gina won an international cello competition, first place in her age group, which led to a solo performance at Carnegie Hall. It provided a good excuse for the entire family to take in the Picasso show. Picasso Sculpture runs through Sunday, February 7.  Words are simply not up to the task of doing this sculptor justice.  Thankfully by now enough critics have tried that I don’t need to further extol the exhibit–apart from just adding this word of encouragement: drop everything right now and go there! It was great to see so many of our faves all at once—they never get old—but it

“I do hope you’re not driving” “Mkay👀👀🙈” We had been texting back and forth while crossing the Bay Bridge, but the liberal use of emoticons betrayed my young ghostwriter. “Can’t wait to meecha mystery scribe….  Tell your chauffeur that I’m staring at a beauuuuutiful Picasso: nude with crossed legs” Sofie, riding shotgun, glanced at the attachment and pronounced that it was indeed beautiful.  Unwilling to take my eyes off the road to examine my iPhone, I discounted all of these accounts.  Not that I doubted any of their eyes—all three sets are quite keen—but I figured they were all admiring just another nice Picasso.  After all, there are so many.  Little did I know what was awaiting us as we entered the

What happens when you mix a rare and desirable blue-chip art collection with a bevy of hungry collectors?  Well, at the special sale of unique Picasso ceramics from Marina Picasso’s collection, held at Sotheby’s London this June, the result, as you may have expected, was an unmitigated feeding frenzy.  Rarely if ever has there been an opportunity for the public to see, much less choose among, such a large collection of the master’s unique ceramics.  According to one of the Sotheby’s auctioneers, this assortment represented the lion’s share of Marina’s remaining unique ceramic collection.  Even without this disclosure, many collectors must have judged that they were unlikely to ever again come across such a large collection of unique Picasso ceramics. Casey and

  As our family of five is wrapping up our mini-“Grand Tour” of London and the Continent, I find myself thinking again and again about the many highlights of our trip.  Our visit to the “new and improved” Picasso Museum in Paris deserves a whole blogpost in and of itself, but, although it’s been almost a week, my mind is still reverberating from that transcendent visual onslaught and needs to regain some composure before I can even think about tackling it.  Then I should also weave in our visit to the French Riviera, with the Picasso Museum in Antibes, the Picasso Chapel in Vallauris with the wartime L’Homme au Mouton (The Man with the Sheep, 1943) in the nearby square, Picasso’s