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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Did anyone else notice his pants in the photo appear to be white or near-white? NOT "dark" as described by the television station's report.
Slacks look white to me. That's the first thing I noticed when I read this article. I have been joked by friends that I will not be able to say what took place at the crime, but you can bet, I will tell you exactly what everyone was wearing. LOL.
I don't want to crate things that have never been done. That's just mean to virgins.
The thief should hide on a Kindergarten wall where no one will notice it.
I'll bet that he was working for someone who commissioned him to steal it. Most likely it will end up in someone's private collection, only to be seen by them or very close friends. What really baffles me is how this "work of art" can be worth $200 K. Everything Picasso did could be replicated by a 5 year old, and yet the public buys into this "crap" as being "art". Sorry to offend, but I think Pablo Picasso WAS an A$$ hole.
Wow, you make ignorant people sound smart....
Wow Sara! Sorry if you think I'm ignorant for thinking that Picasso's work is crap, but it is. It's only because of idiots who think it isn't, that it sells for such outrageous prices. My dog can make a bowel movement that has more artistic value than anything that he ever produced. If you think otherwise, then you're the idiot. Not me.
Wow..$200,000 for that!. I am quitting my job and taking up pencil drawing, I can draw much much better than that.
Well, I guess there's no accounting for taste...yechh!
@myles: You are under arrest.
Art under the mans arm does not seem to match the Tête de Femme.
I hate how this is concidered art....Ugliest drawing ever. Picasso was more talented at age 16 when he did realism. This crap is ugly and effortless. I did drawings liket his when I was 4.
Pink Panther
We'll Picasso did say," Bad artists copy. Good artists steal."
Looks like in the next camera shot, he was seen putting this into the trash can. Pretty lousy Picasso piece! The man did the right thing.
Why is it that whenever art is stolen, it's usually always gently plucked from the wall and walked out the front door? If priceless art was stolen, shouldn't have been a crazy heist of Hollywood proportions?
Something about grabbing the art and running away to a cab takes all the romanticism out of art thievery.
Neal Caffrey would not even steal this one....Mozzie maybe!