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2010-01-26 10:09:17
Mon Jan 25, 9:04 am ET
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.