Imagine if you were this clumsy woman? (this happened on Monday of this week). I can't imagine how I would feel(and scared, too, as to what could be done legally against me for the damage. Although, the museum must have some kind of insurance)if I did this:
New York woman falls, rips Picasso painting
Mon Jan 25, 8:18 am ET , Yahoo News
NEW YORK (AFP) – A significant Pablo Picasso painting was damaged after a woman attending art class lost her balance, fell into "The Actor" and tore it, The Metropolitan Museum of Art said.
NEW YORK (AFP) – A significant Pablo Picasso painting was damaged after a woman attending art class lost her balance, fell into "The Actor" and tore it, The Metropolitan Museum of Art said.
The unusually large canvas, measuring 77.25 by 45.38 inches (196 by 115 centimeters), sustained a vertical tear of about six inches (15 centimeters) in the lower right-hand corner in the accident on Friday.
The museum, located on the eastern edge of New York's Central Park, did not elaborate on why the woman fell.
But The Met said the damage did not impact the "focal point of the composition" and that it should be repaired in the coming weeks ahead of a major Picasso retrospective featuring some 250 works at the museum opening on April 27.
Repair work should be "unobtrusive," it added.
Painted in the winter of 1904-1905, the work hails from Picasso's critical Rose Period, when the artist shifted from the downbeat tones of his Blue Period to warmer, more romantic hues.
The period also hints at Picasso's later embrace of abstraction with his signature cubist style.
Donated to The Met by automobile heiress Thelma Chrysler Foy in 1952, "The Actor" features an acrobat striking a dramatic pose against an abstract backdrop. It was painted on a used canvas that already contained a painting.
Repair work should be "unobtrusive," it added.
Painted in the winter of 1904-1905, the work hails from Picasso's critical Rose Period, when the artist shifted from the downbeat tones of his Blue Period to warmer, more romantic hues.
The period also hints at Picasso's later embrace of abstraction with his signature cubist style.
Donated to The Met by automobile heiress Thelma Chrysler Foy in 1952, "The Actor" features an acrobat striking a dramatic pose against an abstract backdrop. It was painted on a used canvas that already contained a painting.
13 comments:
Didn't Steve Wynn do this to one of his own Picasso's?
I would be petrified because even if the museum has insurance, the insurance company will go after her once paid for as much as they can get. If she has home/renters insurance she would have at least some liability coverage but near enough. gulp
that poor woman!
Clare,
That's right--you would know more about the insurance angle becasue that's your business. Luckily, the damage wasn't anything that couldn't be repaired, but still....
Janet,
It makes me think of all the times I went too close to a painting in a museum and what if it were me who stumbled into the painting!
still sounds strange to me. how did she rip it? with her hand to stop her fall. was there not a backing on the painting? questions.
but yes, that poor woman. bet she doesn't get too close again!
i saw that story and it still seems odd to me. she just tripped and ripped it. with what??? i don't get it. but oh my gosh what a horrible thing to be in the news for.
Well, accidents do happen and sometimes it can be even worse. Last week, during a speaking activity in class, I asked my 12 year-old students to relate to the text we had read and tell the class about a day they remembered. One of my most talkative students told us about an accident he had while on holidays in Barcelona last summer. He is by nature a curious boy, so during a visit to a museum - and while his parents weren't looking- he put his head deep into a jar. The poor boy was unable to take his head out of the jar! He almost suffocated. The jar which cost a fortune had to be broken to get the boy out of it! But the parents were sued for negligence and cause of irreparable damage to one of Spain's greatest treasures! If you ask me, in both cases there was an accident. Neither the woman in New York nor my student in Barcelona caused the damage on purpose. In both cases, I'm glad there was no loss of lives.
Oops. That poor woman. No more museums for her.
I wonder what a significant piece of art was doing out in the open, in the way of people? Aren't they placed in "Special corners", under heave protection and security, because of their high value? Why would it be in the way of an art class? Sounds...suspicious. Yet, the woman must be still shaking.
Cringing reading this! That poor woman!
Wow!! I would feel so bad!!
Oh man. I would not want to be in her position. I'd be freaking out. She'll have a good story to tell her grand children one day though lol
Sounds like a good reason to stay out of museums especially if you tend to be a bit clumsy!
~Anastasia!
That story, I am sorry--it actually made me laugh, as I think the boy's family probably laughs about it these days.
I know from handling customer's painted canvases at my job, that becasue they are stretched taut over a wooden frame, anything could poke through the material(there is nothing behind it and of course, no glass covering it) and always hang the canvases until we are ready to put the frame on them, in a certain closet high up on the wall--well away from clumsy people.
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