Thursday, May 17, 2012

30 things "The Scream" is screaming, 10 (Is This Art?)

Could The Scream someday be worth as much as $59,950,000,000? Maybe -- if the same multiplier occurs as happened to this guy:


That's Zachary Bodish, of Columbus, Ohio, and he's holding a Picasso print that he found in an Ohio thrift store and bought for $14. Turns out the print is number 6 in a series that Picasso made, making it kind of an original (?) that Zachary Bodish, whose friends probably ought to call him Z-Bod, sold for $7000.

And he got that money even though nobody actually authenticated it as a real Picasso. So to recap: guy buys an old poster in a Goodwill, sells it for seven large.

I say it's kind of an original because the poster itself is a print from a linocut -- Picasso carved the print-mold and then posters were printed, with the first 100 or so in such a series generally being considered originals in that they were probably printed by the artist him- or herself, while later copies were made by others or were copies of copies, which are worthless, maybe.  Who knows? People who will pay $7000 for an unauthenticated copy of a Picasso poster might pay anything for anything.

(Other stories say there was some authentication of the origin of the poster done.)

Artists creating multiple copies of their works isn't limited to Picasso (who did the poster for the exhibition).  Edvard Munch made more than one The Scream, even, creating four copies total:



 And you know what they say:  It's really worth nothing unless you have the whole set.

Here's today's caption:


Hummala bebhuhla zeebuhla 
boobuhla hummala bebhuhla zeebuhla bop!


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3 comments:

Andrew Leon said...

Yeah, if I'm gonna collect something, I want them all.

I know how that guy can get his money back on that one he bought...
But I'm not gonna tell.

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

Some people just are in the right place at the right time. I've never been one of those people. Unless of course you count that I showed up on Briane Pagel's blog at just the right time to comment at just the right moment to win two free ebooks.

That makes me a winner. It may not be a Picasso, but for one day I felt awesome.

PT Dilloway said...

Wait, he actually drew one with CRAYON on CARDBOARD? I guess I always thought for something to be art you had to use paint or clay or something, not something kindergartners use.