A 19-foot tapestry by Pablo Picasso might soon be destroyed at the acclaimed The Four Seasons Restaurant in New York City.
The enormous work has hung in a hallway there for more than half a century and structural issues are forcing a relocation it might not survive, according to The New York Times.
"Le Tricorne," a canvas that Picasso painted for a production by the Ballets Russes, will be removed Feb. 9 to allow for repairs to the limestone wall on which it hangs, according to RFR Holding, the real estate company that owns the Seagram Building.
The wall is in such poor condition that it could collapse, posing a danger to the art, but detaching the tapestry from the wall will likely mean its destruction.
Peg Green, the president of The New York Landmarks Conservancy, which owns the work, was skeptical of the reason behind taking down the art.
"One of RFR's own movers told us that no matter how cautious they are, the work is so brittle and fragile that it could, as one of them put it, 'crack like a potato chip,' " she told The New York Times.
Breen told The New York Times it was a decision based on taste and value, not just a limestone wall.
The executive behind the decision, Aby Rosen, is among the city's most prominent collectors and chairman of the New York State Council on the Arts. He has reportedly told people that he wants to showcase highlights of his vast trove in the space now occupied by "Le Tricorne." His own tastes favor contemporary artists, like Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons, according to The New York Times.
"Le Tricorne," which translates to "the three-cornered hat," was painted over three weeks in 1919, in a studio in Covent Garden, in London. Phyllis Lambert, the daughter of the Seagram founder, Samuel Bronfman bought the tapestry in 1957 for $50,000. Ms. Lambert was 27 years old when her father asked her to help oversee the design and construction of the Seagram Building and she thought it was perfect for the entryway. It was originally intended for the dining room but the image of the bullring seemed better suited for the hallway.
The work is not considered one of Picasso's masterpieces because it was cut to reduce its size, it is still quite large and was used as a stage prop. For insurance purposes, Christie's appraised the work at $1.6 million in 2008.
Others feel "Le Tricorne" is an important historical piece that is as much a part of The Four Seasons and the Seagram Building as the the architecture.
"It can't be treated like just another picture that happens to be hanging on that wall and could be interchanged with something else," architecture critic Paul Goldberger, who writes for Vanity Fair, told The New york Times. "By virtue of years of being there, it has the effective status of being part of the architecture, even if it's not part of the architecture."
The conservancy hired structural engineers of Thornton Tomasetti to inspect the wall and opinions were split on whether construction was necessary.
"In our opinion," the report summarized, "all nondestructive testing and subsequent panel support repair, if necessary, can be done without disturbing the Picasso curtain."
Breen told The New York Times that the Museum of Modern Art would put the tapestry into storage when it is removed, assuming it survives.
Neither Rosen nor anyone contacted at RFR returned calls from The New York Times for comment.
