Picasso at Four Seasons Treated Like a Rag
RFR had also claimed that the wall behind the painting was structurally unsound and required emergency repairs, according to the lawsuit. But again, the conservancy says another engineering firm found little to no movement in the panels.
While repairs could be performed without damaging the art, according to the conservancy, removing the painting would almost certainly damage it. One of its conservators inspected the tapestry and determined that moving it posed a “significant risk of stress and damage to the paint layer,” and “may cause the fabric support to crack or break,” the lawsuit states.
The building owners’ stated reason for removing the painting — for emergency repair work — “is false and fully refuted” by the opinions of experts and engineers, the conservancy claims.
It blames the decision on non-party Aby Rosen, RFR’s CEO and chairman of the New York State Council on the Arts.
“Mr. Rosen has previously referred to the Picasso Curtain as a schmatte, the Yiddish word for rag,” the conservancy claims. “The sole basis for RFR and Mr. Rosen’s insistence that the Picasso Curtain be removed is Mr. Rosen’s own admitted dislike of the Picasso Curtain.”
Rosen “fully intends to go ahead as planned with the removal,” according to the lawsuit, and has hired a moving company to take down the curtain at 3 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 9. The conservancy estimates that proper removal would take seven to 10 days.
Rosen allegedly intends to replace “Le Tricorne” with other unspecified artwork.
Picasso painted “Le Tricorne” in 1919 for a production of the Ballets Russes.
More: Courthouse News Service