Picasso drawing swiped from San Francisco gallery

6 July 2011

Surveillance footage from Lefty O'Douls restaurant of a man suspected of swiping a Picasso from a San Francisco gallery.

(Lefty O'Douls)

click to enlarge

The Picasso drawing "Tete de Femme."

(Weinstein Gallery)

Update 7/8/11: Police have arrested Mark Lugo, 30, of New Jersey on charges of burglary, grand theft, possession of stolen property and possession of narcotics. Tips and video from a nearby restaurant and a taxicab led police to find Lugo in Napa, Calif. where the missing Picasso sketch was found in his hotel room, according to ABC News.

---Lefty O'Doul's restaurant in San Francisco says it has surveillance video of a man who ripped a Picasso drawing off the wall of a nearby gallery.

The restaurant is close to the Weinstein Gallery, where the thief snatched the 1965 pencil-on-paper drawing on Tuesday morning then got into a waiting taxicab, according to the gallery and police.

Picasso's "Tete de Femme" measures about 8 inches by 11 inches, and is worth more than $200,000, according to the gallery.

Witnesses say the thief appeared to be a man in his 30s who wore a navy jacket, big sunglasses, and loafers with no socks.

Read more at

More News Feed Headlines

Julien Hudson, 1811-1844 American. Creole Boy With A Moth, 1835, oil on canvas, courtesy of a private collection; photo courtesy of Fodera Fine Art Conservation, Ltd.

First Retrospective of Early African American Artist Julien Hudson at Worcester Art Museum

A groundbreaking exhibition opened Dec. 9 at the Worcester Art Museum entitled “In Search of Julien Hudson: Free Artist of Color in Pre-Civil War New Orleans.” Julien Hudson (1811-1844) is the second-earliest documented portrait painter of African descent to work in the United States. Little-known today, Hudson died an untimely, somewhat mysterious death, and only fragments of his oeuvre survive to tell his story.

'May,' by Alexander Motyl, $25/month to rent ($550 to buy), artsicle.com.

Virtual Art Buying Gets a Boost From New Websites

A bevy of new online ventures are helping to streamline the process of buying art for both beginners and established collectors, facilitating keyboard-click access to information and galleries.

An installation view of the new Tuscaloosa Museum of Art: Home of the Westervelt Collection.

New Tuscaloosa Museum of Art to Showcase Important American Art

Last week, the Tuscaloosa Museum of Art opened its doors, finally giving a home to the art collection assembled by Jack Warner. Earlier this year, the Jack Warner Foundation and Westervelt Company separated, leaving the fate undetermined as to where their respective collections would be housed. Several key works were sold by the Westervelt Co. at auction and privately. Now, more than 800 pieces...

Portrait of a Man and Woman in an Interior, painted about 1666, by Eglon van der Neer (Dutch, 1634–1703). Oil on panel. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Seth K. Sweetser Fund.

Museum Curator as Art Detective

At the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Victoria Reed is the first and only endowed curator of provenance at an American museum. Since 2010, her role has been to research objects in the museum's collections, and new acquisitions, in order to determine the right of ownership. At times, Reed's findings have led to restitution...