Picasso Work Lost in Subway

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Marc Lizer

Marc Lizer

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Joined
Jun 28, 1999
Posts
1,545
Loc
North Hollywood, CA
I caught this on TV on the local station.

Halfway out of the room I heard . . . "A picture framing consutant . .. "

(soundbite quote from New Yorker in a subway). . ."pretty much a moron . . ."

. . . "maybe next time he'll be smart enought not to take the subway."

(end newstory, break to studio, break to comercial)

Here is the link (click here)
Having a feeling the link may not work, here is the complete text

Picasso Work Lost in Subway

By Simone Weichselbaum and Rocco Parascandola
STAFF WRITERS

June 1, 2003


W.H. Bailey knows art. He has taught display techniques at the Parsons School of Design. He advises the Museum of Modern Art. And he is the author of "Defining Edges: A New Look at Picture Frames."

Yet somehow, someway, Bailey, 64, vapor-locked in a Manhattan subway station Thursday morning, leaving behind a Pablo Picasso drawing and a painting by Henri Matisse's great-granddaughter as he boarded a southbound No. 1 train at West 79th Street.

Bailey, who had the works with him because he was taking them to a restorer, realized his erreur when he got to Columbus Circle. But by the time he returned to the station on a northbound train a short time later, the artwork, enclosed in a large leather portfolio holder and left leaning against a pole, had been swiped.

Bailey, who was framing the work for collectors, didn't report the incident until Friday, police said. A detective dispatched to the West 79th Street station could not find any witnesses.

Police said Bailey was carrying in his bag a Picasso drawing that he described as priceless, and Sophie Matisse's re-imagining of the Picasso masterpiece "Guernica."

Sophie Matisse, 38, who has a gallery on the Upper East Side, was stunned to hear what had happened to her painting, which has an estimated value of $6,500 and had been in the possession of a collector.

"It was a tremendously risky thing to do, to go into the subway system with works of art of that caliber," she said. "I was amazed, I was upset and angry, and I was also feeling bad for him.

"It happens to us all, but when you're dealing with someone else's property, it's not always the best idea."

Bailey could not be reached for comment yesterday, with neighbors at his Upper West Side apartment building saying he and his wife probably had gone to their country house.

Before leaving, he did tape throughout the West 79th Street station posters asking for the public's help in returning the artwork and promising a reward to the finder.

A neighbor, Joy Weiner, said she saw Bailey looking throughout the station Friday for the pieces of art, repeatedly saying, "I lost one of my bags."

"He was frantic," she said. "He was even checking garbage pails."
Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc.
 
Oops!

My first thought is that moron just about covers it.

Second thought, I feel sorry for him.

Third thought, moron!
 
Mr. Bailey has just come out with an interesting
book on artists' frames and the history that
thinking behind them.

Hugh
 
Hope Mr. Bailey has Insurance. On the other hand, how do you insure stupidity?

(I took out a comment, because it sounded mean when I read it. It was supposed to be a funny jibe at Ron, but it really didn't sound funny)

[ 06-02-2003, 05:54 PM: Message edited by: jvandy57 ]
 
Jerry, I read the original version before you <strike>chickened out</strike> edited it, and I may have over-reacted.

When a small, but heavy package arrives from Appleton in about 3-4 weeks (Blue Label UPS) IMMEDIATELY submerge it in a bath tub full of water.

If you have one. :D
 
I hope his book sells well, he may be needing the money.

It is odd enough that he would take the art on a subway, but even more odd is the fact that he let go of it and sat it down. I wonder if he is ill or had a stroke or what.

Has has anybody heard anymore about this? There is a book and a movie in there somewhere. Let's see, I wonder who could play Mr. Bailey?
 
Mr. Bailey has Less's sympathy. He goes crazy when he can't find something in his own gallery.

I don't see why personally transporting it on the subway is any different than transporting it on a taxi or a bus. He could have set it down anywhere in the city.

I just hope that he chose to leak the story to the press in an effort to encourage the return of the art. I would think he feels bad enough without having his good name smeared in the tabloids.

Now, where did I leave my Unseal?

[ 06-02-2003, 09:50 PM: Message edited by: lessafinger ]
 
If I was carrying something priceless, on the subway or anywhere else, people would think the case was crazy-glued to my fingers. As it is, I carry my everyday stuff in a shoulder bag, so I can have my hands free, without setting it down.

I suspect the bag was taken by someone who wanted the bag. The artwork is probably in a trashcan somewhere, or pinned up on a wall in a cheap apartment.

Stranger things have happened.
 
From http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/02/nyregion/02ART.html we have the following news flash. :eek:


The man on the telephone called himself Paul and said to meet him this afternoon at 80th Street and Broadway.

"No third parties," he said.

And so the stage seems to be set for the final act of the case of the mislaid art. This is the affair of the professional art framer who left two precious pieces of art on a subway platform on Thursday: an original Picasso print and a study by Sophie Matisse, great-granddaughter of Henri Matisse.

The framer, William H. Bailey, 63, who was hired to frame the works for two clients, said last night that he got a telephone call yesterday from a man who claimed to have his leather art portfolio, and the art.

Mr. Bailey was carrying the works in the portfolio when he entered the 79th Street subway station on Thursday morning. He set it down on the grimy gum-stained platform, and when he boarded a downtown No. 1 train, the paintings were right where he left them, leaning against a subway column.

He said he wept when he realized what he had done. Later came the phone call, and the possibility that an absent-minded mistake — an expensive one — might be made right.

The caller identified himself only as Paul, Mr. Bailey said last night in a telephone interview. Paul offered to return the art today in exchange for the reward, which Mr. Bailey told him would be $1,000. Mr. Bailey said he did not press Paul for his last name or address because "I didn't want to pin him down."

"I'm not worried," he added. "He has no use for them. I don't think he even knew who Henri Matisse was, let alone Sophie. He did know Picasso."

Paul told Mr. Bailey that on Thursday, two men stopped by where he works, at Broadway and 80th Street, with the leather case. He said they told him that they had found it in the subway but had no use for it and that he should "do whatever you want with it."

Paul took the case home but did not look inside until Saturday. He told Mr. Bailey that he had not known who the artists were until his wife told him yesterday, after she heard news reports. Paul said his wife pestered him to call Mr. Bailey and give him details about the works and their packing — the Picasso, a rendering of two male figures, was 8 by 10 inches, and Ms. Matisse's piece was a re-creation of Picasso's famous "Guernica."

Mr. Bailey said the details were correct, giving him hope that Paul — or whoever he was — was telling the truth.

Mr. Bailey said: "When I heard that, I told him, `The case is yours, and the thousand bucks is your wife's.' He told her, and I heard this big shriek. Then he said, `She's going shopping.' "

The owner of the Picasso print, Judy Wald, a corporate recruiter in Manhattan, said last night that she hoped the caller would indeed return her art, but she was cautious. "The guy's obviously still an unknown quantity, so we're still waiting for the other shoe to drop," she said.

"Obviously, he was attracted enough by the reward to call. If he doesn't show, well — I don't even want to anticipate."

Mr. Bailey said that he hoped the artworks would be returned and that his professional reputation might be protected. "I don't want to be remembered as the idiot who left this thing on the subway platform," he said. "It'd be nice to be vindicated on this."

He said that he was fully insured, and that he had framed paintings for museums, including Van Gogh's "Starry Night" for the Museum of Modern Art.

He also said he received a lot of "weirdo calls" from people claiming to have the art but asking to negotiate the reward. "I also got callers at 5 a.m. cursing me out, saying, `You deserve what happens to you.' "

Reached last night by telephone, Ms. Matisse said the return of the works would be "a true miracle."

"It's always a thorn in one's side to know that someone else is missing it," she said. "Better to give it back and get one's peace of mind."

Yesterday, the area around the subway station was abuzz with talk about the art. Gary Kauffman, 44, a lawyer, said he thought most New Yorkers would be honorable enough to return the art. "You have to give these things time," he said.

Ronnie Wilson, 61, who sleeps in the 79th Street station, said that if he found the works, he would negotiate for more than $1,000.

"He'd get them back, but there'd be some serious negotiating between our lawyers for a proper percentage," said Mr. Wilson, reclining on three couch cushions in his stocking feet at the end of the uptown platform, dining on takeout chicken and rice. "Like any street person, I'm an opportunist. I'd be fair, but you got to be fair to me."
 
Oh Happy Day!!! The artworks have been returned to the poor stupid framer, and once again our profession shines upon the world!!! And we can show our faces tomorrow!!!
 
Now he'll only be remembered as the idiot who lucked out and it only cost him $1,000.
Tho it would be interesting to see if his clientelle will still entrust him with their priceless works of art. I'd be leary of having him do any more work for me if I was one of his museum clients. :rolleyes:
 
Originally posted by Ron Eggers:
IMMEDIATELY submerge it in a bath tub full of water.

If you have one. :D
Click to expand...
I have one I'll just have to get my truck engine outta it.
 
I wonder....
1) Did Mr. Bailey learn anything from this experence?

2) How much would our insurance rates have gone up if the art had never been returned? We can ALL breathe a sigh of relief!

Oooooph!
 
One place I worked at about 10 years ago, had the delivery driver put a box with a $10,000 plexi sculpture on the roof of the truck to get an order out from under it. He delivered that order and drove off with the box on the roof. Story go it stayed on till he got back on I95. It then came off and 10 cars hit it before it could be rescued. We buried it. Get this, he still wanted to get paid for the delivers he made that day.

framer
 
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