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Trove of Picassos Surfaces, and So Do Questions
New York Times ^ | November 29, 2010 | SCOTT SAYARE

Posted on 11/30/2010 1:08:08 PM PST by Ron C.

PARIS — Pablo Picasso gave them as a gift.

So said Danielle Le Guennec, 68, explaining how she and her husband came to possess a box full of 271 previously unknown sketches, paintings and collages by one of the 20th century’s most celebrated artists.

“It was very straightforward,” she said in a telephone interview on Monday, after the French newspaper Libération reported the find. Her husband, Pierre Le Guennec, 71, had worked as an electrician in three of Picasso’s homes on the French Riviera in the early 1970s.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News
KEYWORDS: fortune; treasure
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Hate to 'post and run' - have to get 'out the door' - what do you think, is the electrician telling the truth?
1 posted on 11/30/2010 1:08:10 PM PST by Ron C.
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To: Ron C.
IMHO, the Electrician is definitely telling the truth. These are early works..bits and pieces...

And lets remember that his heirs have 700,000 "documented" works between them.

Rotten, greedy kin....

2 posted on 11/30/2010 1:12:20 PM PST by Sacajaweau
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To: Ron C.
Doesn't matter whether he's telling the truth.

All that matters is who has the most money to pay a lawyer.

3 posted on 11/30/2010 1:13:30 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (DEFCON I ALERT: The federal cancer has metastasized. All personnel report to their battle stations.)
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To: Ron C.

what do you think, is the electrician telling the truth?
____________________________________________________________

The story sounds reasonable to me.

He worked in three of the homes, if he had been stealing, surely he wouldn’t have worked at 3 different homes and nothing was ever mentioned of missing works.

I buy his story.

(I didn’t read the full story, not registered for that site)


4 posted on 11/30/2010 1:17:04 PM PST by Irenic
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To: Ron C.

They have held these works for 30-40 years. I am curious as to why they did not try to sell them off earlier.It is not as is they were displaying the works in their home or gallery. They were sitting in a box in their garage.I wonder if the Statute of Limitations has anything to do with it that now they are coming forward.


5 posted on 11/30/2010 1:18:07 PM PST by chuckee
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To: Ron C.

I wouldn’t doubt it. Pablo Picasso was known for gifting
small works of art to people he liked.


6 posted on 11/30/2010 1:21:33 PM PST by CrazyIvan (What's "My Struggle" in Kenyan?)
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To: chuckee

No Statute of Limitations on stolen property. Proving title is a different matter.


7 posted on 11/30/2010 1:24:39 PM PST by 1rudeboy
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To: Ron C.

Seems as though the Picasso family is greedy.


8 posted on 11/30/2010 1:30:21 PM PST by taxtruth
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To: Ron C.
This is exactly like DeBeers limiting the supply of diamonds.

These objects dilute the demand for and value of their stuff, and they don't like it one bit.

9 posted on 11/30/2010 1:31:06 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (DEFCON I ALERT: The federal cancer has metastasized. All personnel report to their battle stations.)
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To: Ron C.

He payed for things and services with his works.


10 posted on 11/30/2010 1:53:57 PM PST by stockpirate (David Horowitz Democratic Party has been "seized by a religious cult" of the left!)
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To: Ron C.
I've seen a lot of Picasso's works in museums around the world... some of it is not worthy (yes, this is my opinion), but if someone(s) is(are) willing to pay for it/assign his massive amount of work value... more power to them.
11 posted on 11/30/2010 1:55:08 PM PST by Trajan88 (www.bullittclub.com)
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To: Irenic
I am an artist, not a world famous one for sure, but I have so many paintings and drawings that weren't good enough to finish or I got tired of working on. Someone could be stealing from me and I would be glad. On the other hand, Picassos later work is so childlike that it would be easy to forge. Make it weird and paint it blue, look mom a Picasso!
12 posted on 11/30/2010 2:03:33 PM PST by Ditter
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To: stockpirate

“He payed for things and services with his works.”

I’ve heard stories that rather than tip a waiter with cash, Picasso would often just do a little doodle on a cocktail napkin for the lucky server. Always signed them - that made it marketable “art.”


13 posted on 11/30/2010 2:30:00 PM PST by mrs. a (It's a short life but a merry one...)
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To: JoeProBono; Perdogg; nickcarraway
a box full of 271 previously unknown sketches, paintings and collages
Thanks Ron C.


14 posted on 11/30/2010 3:05:13 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: Sacajaweau
I think he's telling the truth too - for several reasons, the main reason is that the works of Picasso coincide with the time that he did the work at the homes, and I know for a fact that Picasso often 'partially paid' for work done by others with a few of his paintings.

The greedy Picasso Foundation just wants what is NOT theirs.

15 posted on 11/30/2010 3:37:29 PM PST by Ron C.
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
You're sadly right - but in this case, it isn't the most money for 'a lawyer' - it's the 'most lawyers.' The sleazy Foundation likely has had a dozen or more firms at their beck and call, and has had them for many years.

I'm hope, in this case, is that public sentiment will turn toward supporting this old electrician, and against the greedy bastards within the Picasso Foundation.

16 posted on 11/30/2010 3:42:57 PM PST by Ron C.
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To: CrazyIvan

I’d heard he’d pay for meals with a drawing on a napkin.


17 posted on 11/30/2010 3:47:14 PM PST by skr (May God confound the enemy)
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To: SunkenCiv


18 posted on 11/30/2010 3:59:41 PM PST by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Visualize)
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To: Irenic
"He worked in three of the homes, if he had been stealing, surely he wouldn’t have worked at 3 different homes..."

My thoughts exactly... and that work was most likely done over a long period of time. Picasso had to have stayed for a while in each of those homes, and always returned to the electrician when he moved into a newer home.

Picasso most likely gave the electrician several bit's and pieces of artwork, (hardly 'paintings') at each visit, and there were likely many more than one visit at each home.

And, most likely at the time, the electrician wasn't particularly excited about any of the rather mediocre scribbles handed to him in 'partial payment' - he just took them home to show his wife what the fruit of his labor was - basically, non-payment.

What amazes more than anything (since Picasso was not very famous at the time,) is that either the wife or the electrician decided to keep them, without much hope of them ever being worth anything - but more as a reminder of the painter, because he kept calling for more work to be done - a 'good customer' (albeit, a rather poor-paying one.)

19 posted on 11/30/2010 4:02:48 PM PST by Ron C.
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To: Ron C.

Many years ago I got a chance to visit an art professor @ the University of Mass that whole house was minamalisitc, but sketches of folks like Picasso where all over the walls. Not my area of expertise, but this seems plasible. This was 20 something years ago and I was told the net worth of the art in the entire house was 1/4 of a million in 80’s dollars. I shutter to think what this collection is worth today. The Prof was 69 yrs old then, my guess he is no longer with us.


20 posted on 11/30/2010 4:04:32 PM PST by taildragger ((Palin / Mulally 2012 ))
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