A Pablo Picasso drawing worth more than $200,000 was taken from a San Francisco art gallery on Tuesday in a brazen midday theft, according to local media reports.
The pencil drawing, titled "Tête de Femme" (Head of a Woman), was hanging just inside the Weinstein Gallery on Geary Street in San Francisco. A well-dressed man wearing dark glasses entered the gallery, grabbed the 10 5/8-by-8 1/4-inch drawing and fled the gallery into a waiting taxicab, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Police are asking for the public's help in recovering the art.
"We're hoping someone in the public might recognize this piece, if they see someone walking around with it or trying to sell it," police spokesman Albie Esparza told the Chronicle.
The piece will be hard to sell, art historian Sharon Flescher, of the International Foundation for Art Research, told the Chronicle.
"The legitimate collectors won't touch it," the paper quotes Flescher as saying.
"My goal is to keep this kind of work accessible to the public, and there’s always a risk to that,” Weinstein told the Examiner. He said security procedures would be reviewed so that policy does not have to be changed.
The Picasso was insured, but Weinstein told the Chronicle he is most worried about preserving the art itself.
"My greatest fear is that, with all this attention on it, the person will realize it's unsellable and will dispose of it in a less-than-proper manner," the Chronicle quotes him as saying.
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Him and Picasso of India hanging out and celebrating
Sounds like you two need to get lives, the only thing worse than living in a facebook colony is living in the comment section of a random CNN article.
hush! it keeps us busy at work lol
So just draw another. From the looks of the picture it looks like something a small child would doodle. Amazing what is called art....
Right on target!
You clearly don’t understand art or the art world, Picasso can make drawings that deconstruct the human form, cubism ect. and yes you may be right it looks like a child can do it, but he could also sculpt the human body in such beautiful forms and he also used every medium he could get his hands on. Once you have concord the mastery of all or most forms you gain liberties to express your vision and crate things that have never been done.
Anyone else feel like eating a whole lot of gr apes right now? Like a big box of them or something?
Like a shipping container of some kind full of a certain kind of gr ape. I just want to shove my face in it and pig out. Where is this urge coming from?
Feels almost like some kind of power of suggestion thing.
So there isn't even one single gay person who has ever hated anyone and sought revenge? Wow. I did not know that. Too bad they can't reproduce then.
Also... he is described as wearing dark pants?? If I see correctly his pants look very light.
Jazzzzzzz, you better stay away from my handsome Trollie. Illl stick a b.tch!
Hayyyy. Wait a minute. What anout all those gay priests that got caught sodomizing young boys? Oh, you call that 'love' rather than hate. OK. What about the gay policeman here in Colo. Spgs. that just got charged with 78 counts of butt-luvin' on boys and young men then. What say you?
nah... he's not 'GAY'... just some creepy closeted straight guy who's curious and weird
Jazzzzzzz in his bananna hammock while Trollie whistles jingle bells
Its jingle balls.
you can say the price was a steal.
Unsellable? I wouldn't be so sure of that...plenty of stolen paintings have been sold, just takes time.
It occurs to me that many, many people here are way too fixated on gays.
Why is that, I wonder?
That really is a lousy drawing by the way. Looks like he doodled it waiting for his food at a restaurant.
Love his dark colored pants....
Did anyone else notice his pants in the photo appear to be white or near-white? NOT "dark" as described by the police report.
Nor does he appear to be "Fleeing" In a case like this, where one particular picture was stolen, I'm sure he was hired by a collector. And who puts a painting of that worth, just inside the door without security, or more securely contained?