Picasso piece a surprise for Evansville Museum

Nobody knows yet how much "Seated Woman with Red Hat," the layered, fired glass piece Picasso created in the 1950s, might sell for, but the museum's members have decided it's too expensive to keep.

They voted Tuesday to authorize Guernsey's, a New York auction house, to sell the art privately, on recommendation of the board of directors. The museum announced the decision Wednesday.

"Now that we have a full understanding of the requirements and additional expenses to display, secure, preserve and insure the piece, it is clear those additional costs would place a prohibitive financial burden on the museum," said R. Steven Krohn, president of the museum's board of trustees.

Other work by Picasso has commanded record prices in the art world. A 1964 painting Picasso finished in one day sold at auction for $106.5 million at auction in 2010.

That price may have little relevance to what the Evansville Museum's piece may fetch in a sale. Representatives from Guernsey's have discussed potential sales figures, "but that's all speculative at this point, said R. Steven Krohn, president of the museum's board of trustees.

He declined to reveal any of the numbers discussed. "Guernsey's has been very clear to us that we are not to discuss prices or even a price range," Krohn said. "That sort of information could get out and have an impact on the possible sale."

"Seated Woman with Red Had" is a rarity for Picasso, who only created some 50 works in gemmail, a colored, fused and fired-glass between 1954 and 1956. The colors in layered glass piece, which is 36 inches high, 28 inches wide and 3 inches thick, are only visible when illuminated from behind.

The piece, donated to the museum by industrial designer Raymond Loewy in 1963, initially was cataloged as art inspired by a design for a Picasso painting, but credited to another artist named Gemmaux. The supposed artist's name turned out to be the plural for "gemmail."

Nothing in the accompanying documentation would have alerted Siegfried Weng, the museum's director in 1963, that Picasso had created it, said John Streetman, the museum's current director. Its light cord was cut or broken, added Streetman, "so we're not even sure Siegfried Weng ever even saw it."

The donation sat in storage for a half century before a query from Guernsey's, which had found records of the donation, revealed its creator to be one of the most singular figures in modern art.

A hand-selected ad hoc committee whose members all signed a secrecy oath "spent countless hours discussing how to handle this, and whether we could show the art" said Krohn."We agonized over that."

Ultimately, however, the costs would have been too much for the museum to preserve, protect and insure the rare Picasso piece, which is "in a secure location," Krohn said.

Streetman said he felt "tremendous sadness" that the museum can't show "Seated Woman with Red Hat" to the public, but he agrees with his board and museum members that the museum can't afford to do that.

He and Krohn said they would like to see the museum put together some kind of display documenting its role in "Seated Woman with Red Hat's" story. "The provenance of this piece is priceless," Krohn said. "It's such a compelling narrative."

And the museum still has five other works by Picasso on paper, two of which are on display now, noted Streetman.

Under the museum's code of ethics, any proceeds from the sale of art must be used for acquisition of collections or care of collections. Revenue from the Picasso sale wouldn't appear a likely source to help finish the museum's $17.5 million "Reaching for the Stars" renovation and expansion funding campaign.

Krohn said he was concerned news of the potential sale might give a wrong impression about the museum's continuing need for public, private and corporate support.

"This does not mean the museum has some pot of gold we found at the end of a rainbow, and we no longer need to depend upon contributors," he said.