Originally published at: Painting found in basement by junk dealer is a Picasso - Boing Boing
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it is known picasso throw away paintings he considered bad and the signature seems legit, Im less than convinced; in this old photo we see the painting, but its impossible to make out that signature ahh, maybe Im wrong, there is something;
(or isnt there? cant really tell.)
to me it looks like someone copied a dora-maar-portrait of his out of fun while making it also kinda unique and afterwards “someone else” put that signature on top “for reasons”. after a lot of practice;
seriously, its a bad painting, compared to the - I believe at least a dozen - other portraits of dora maar he made. if its a picasso, its no wonder he threw it away;
ah? his family will auction it off?
“I am curious to know what they say,” said Lo Rosso. “We were just a normal family, and the aim has always been to establish the truth. We’re not interested in making money out of it.”
alright then.
Marcante will now present the evidence to the Picasso Foundation.
good luck;
He has contacted the Picasso Foundation in Málaga several times, but he said it had shown no interest in examining his claims, believing them to be false.
e/ ha! see that? how the grey of the background hues into red right under the red signature? looks like it wasnt enough practice the first time;
I call that a huge giveaway to be not legit. the signature is also placed so prominent and plain, its almost funny.
e2/ I should have payed little more attention to the post. the copy by allan rose hill has some better colorgrading;
really does look like as if someone tried to erase a failed attempt to produce the signature with terpentine, which just led to disaster.
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Art; it’s worth as much as a money launderer is willing to pay for it.
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fixed.
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It’s important to note that Picasso was extremely prolific. He lived a pretty long life, painted and sculpted almost every day, and was known for filling up his villas with art faster than dealers could move it (or would even want to move it, for fear of devaluing his art.)
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although all you wrote is absolutly true, in my eyes, the painting in question doesnt look at all done by somebody who painted nearly every day since childhood.
I mean, picassos womans head for example is also very simple and basic, but its quite obviously painted by someone who mastered his skills over years and decades, like picasso. its confident;
the other one? having a hard time seeing that;
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Someone in another place also pointed out that the grey background just happens to be pinkish just under the signature and downwards. Kinda what it would look like if someone had screwed up the red signature and tried to erase it with turpentine to try again…
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Thanks for these vids. I don’t think I’d heard the John Cale version before.
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I saw him perform with The Creatures - Cale opened and joined them for the last of their set. Incredible show!
Cale did Pablo Picasso, and I recognized it after only two notes, so I let out a joyful yell. Cale jumped. No one else recognized it until he’d played several bars.
A very proud moment for Yr Humble Narrator - I’d wager Mr Cale doesn’t easily startle!
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I got the same reaction from John Cage, when I let out a, “Wooo-hooo”, just 2 seconds in to 4’33"
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I’m not sure I necessarily believe it’s a legit Picasso either. I’m a huge fan of that asshole Pablo Picasso, but this piece seems really awkward and uncomfortable, more like someone during his cubist period was making fun of him or trying to prove to a friend “hey, I could do one of those.”
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That might be a pretty long wait unless the foundation changes their minds.
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I didnt believe to be the only one to point this out, its way to obvious. and almost certainly also noticed by the Picasso Foundation, which leads to…
ok, now I demand my soda! 
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Catalogues Raisonné (of many artists) are notoriously cautious but refusing to even look at the painting seems to overstep their position.
https://www.cahiersdart.com/en/art-books/catalogues-raisonnes/pablo-picasso-by-christian-zervos/
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I dont know what you are referring to?
from timds link;
The Zervos’ is an extensive catalogue of Picasso’s paintings and drawings, presenting over 16,000 images in thirty-three volumes.
Their position of caution. The catalogues are supposed to be exhaustive, if there is any chance of a new addition I would have thought they had a duty to examine before rejecting. Even if they suspect the signature to be botched or a later addition to a found possible Picasso.
If it was a forgery, all done at the same time, and a signature was botched, removed and replaced then the forger could have covered the pink error by repainting part of the background before adding the new signature (assuming the same person was responsible for painting and signing). On the other hand, it is not entirely beyond the bounds that Picasso might have done it. That might be resolved by modern techniques.
The fact that they have rejected it points to some knowledge of the painting that the article does not contain.
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That may be very difficult to do, logistically. According to this article they receive about 500 requests for authentication each year, so it’s understandable that they would need to draw the line somewhere:
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