Pablo Picasso Painting Incurs 6-inch Tear at Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

A Pablo Picasso painting at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was damaged last Friday, Janauary 22, when a woman attending an adult education class lost her balance and fell into the piece. ”The Actor” (1904-5) incurred an irregular vertical tear 6 inches in length in the lower right-hand corner.

According to a press statement issued by the museum, the damage “did not occur in a focal point of the composition, and the curatorial and conservation staffs fully expect that the repair—which will take place in the coming weeks—will be unobtrusive.” The piece will be still be included in the forthcoming exhibition Picasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which will feature around 250 works from the museum’s collection. The exhibition will run April 27 through August 1, 2010.

The damaged piece is said to be one that marks the artist’s transition from the blue period to the rose period. Donated to the museum in 1952 by automobile heiress Thelma Chrysler Foy, the painting has hung in the museum’s second floor gallery without incident until now. The woman, whom the museum declined to identify, was uninjured.

via: artobserved.