Picasso artwork valued at $85,000 stolen from exhibition in US

Miami, Dec 7 (IANS/EFE) A work of art by the legendary Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, valued at $85,000 was stolen during an art exhibition in Miami, media reported Saturday.

The stolen piece of art titled "Visage aux Mains" (Face with Hands) was created by Picasso in 1956 and was being displayed at the Art Miami exhibition in Midtown, the owner of the Amsterdam-based Leslie Smith gallery, David Smith told the Miami Herald.

He noticed Friday that the silver plate designed by the artist, engraved with a smiling face and stick-finger hands, was no longer on the wall where it had been hanging the day before.

"I've been doing art shows all my life. Even when I was a kid, I (used to go) with my parents," Smith, who reported the theft to the Miami police Friday, said. "I've never, ever had anything stolen," he lamented.

Police dusted for fingerprints, but have not yet provided information on the possible suspects.

Pablo Picasso (1881--1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer, poet and playwright.

As one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture and the co-invention of collage.

Among his most famous works are the proto-Cubist "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" and the "Guernica".

Art Miami is one of numerous parallel exhibitions that are organised in conjunction with Art Basel, a four-day event that is held at the Miami Beach convention centre and draws tens of thousands of people to the city every year.

--IANS/EFE

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