Lady Trips at the Met, Rips a Picasso

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Freudian slip or plain old innocent accident?

Quote:

On Friday a woman was enjoying an educational afternoon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art when things went terribly wrong. As she was gazing into a painting by Pablo Picasso called "The Painter" (at left) she fell into. And just like that there was a six-inch tear in the lower corner of the six-foot-by-four-feet work. Unless this woman was once pantsed on national TV, this was surely most embarrassing moment of her life.

But she can rest easy tonight. The museum came out today and said the damage to the painting would be repaired and "the composition and the curatorial and conservation staffs fully expect that the repair"which will take place in the coming weeks"will be unobtrusive."
Woman Collides With a Picasso [Arts Beat/NYT]

Read more: Vulture -- Entertainment & Culture Blog -- New York Magazine http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/#ixzz0dayjLgaQ

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Type: Discussion • Score: 11 • Views: 3,226 • Replies: 17

@tsarstepan,

I don't believe a word of this, or do I?

No, I don't. Maybe I will if I learn more.

I did have an irish setter rip a painting. But, y'know, those are not the same, this visitor and a year old puppy.

This reminds me of the pinacoteca in Arezzo, whatever the name of the principle museum. The warning to step away - I'm guessing ten or fifteen feet - was reminiscent of the announcements at LAX, about time for unloading only, blasted to cars pulling up to drop off. But I could see their view to keep people away, just not that blasting voice every x number of seconds. I don't remember the work, a tryptich by someone major. But, maybe the hazzerai is why I don't remember it. It's a conundrum. I just remember the room.

1 Reply

@ossobuco,

If you fall into something with, say, your head or shoulder, you may make a canvas bulge and some paint crack.. There isn't much room between canvas and wall to just tear through. Canvas has some elasticity. To work a 6" tear? I don't believe it. Maybe for something very old, but a picasso?

So, where is lightwizard, I'd like to hear his take.

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@tsarstepan,

I'm sure, for a few moments, this woman had no idea of what might happen to her. You tore a Picasso? What's the penalty for that??? Shocked

3 Replies

@eoe,

She tore a Picasso (was it positioned on a wall?) by falling against it?

Am I missing something, was it a work on paper?

1 Reply

@ossobuco,

I admit my doubts can be wrong. Maybe her barrette tore the canvas and layers of paint.

0 Replies

@eoe,

I agree with you, eoe, if it wasn't a set up.

I just don't, given the work was reasonably preserved on canvas. Maybe I need to see the tear. (Is the canvas made of cornmeal mush? in which case, it should have been glassed in)

If I'm wrong, which I'll cheerfully say is possible, what does this mean re museum protection maneuvers?

1 Reply

@eoe,

If they got trip hazards like that, the Met is lucky it didn't get an OSHA citation. Was she injured?

1 Reply

@roger,

The article doesn't mention anything really happening to the museum patron but a slight injury to her humiliation muscle.

2 Replies

@tsarstepan,

Sounds actionable to me.

0 Replies

Measuring 1.8m by 1.2m (6ft by 4ft)

Quote:

The Blue Period continued through 1904, but slowly Picasso began to turn away from the melancholic shades of monochrome. Though The Actor (1904-1905) suggests a sense of suffering similar to the works just before it, the pink clothing indicates a break from the Blue Period. Perhaps it is this painting that led to the label of "Rose Period" for the next two years of Picasso's work. The actor, modeled after a neighbor, heralds Picasso's new obsession with the circus and stage, and with the delightful disguise these forums permitted.

Source

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@ossobuco,

I heard this on NPR this morning. They said another Picasso was damaged recently when someone put their elbow through it by mistake.

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@tsarstepan,

Lady Trips at the Met, Rips a Picasso

i thought this was some euphemism for passing gas Embarrassed

1 Reply

@djjd62,

Thanks, I laughed out loud at that one. Very Happy

1 Reply

@tsarstepan,

Yes, I was wondering why no one seems concerned about the welfare of the lady who had this uforunate accident. A ripped painting can be repaired; today's restorers are awfully competent. But where's the compassion for the unfortunate woman? Does that link even give her name? I mean, she's certainly entitled to her 15 minutes of fame.

1 Reply

@Merry Andrew,

the lady was in the museum for an artistic adventure ...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8478347.stm

Quote:

A woman who was taking an art class at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has accidentally fallen into a Picasso painting and damaged it.

1 Reply

@hamburgboy,

Yes. And even the BBC story doesn't give the lady's name. Shameful.

0 Replies

@engineer,

I did too

0 Replies

Lady Trips at the Met, Rips a Picasso

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