Now, I don’t know much about venture capitalism, but I do know what stinks. To use Picasso’s humanitarian masterpiece, Guernica to sell wealth through art – stinks. When this press release fell into my in box I wondered what dark algorithmic angel sent it. Why me? A retired special needs teacher with Socialist politics. Hardly the profile of the super rich art collector (although I do have some nice gleanings from political auctions, studio floors and the odd pressie.) I think it was because I once contacted Bonhams to auction a signed ‘Free for All’ poster by Richard Hamilton to raise funds for Stop the War. Richard had asked that the posters be auctioned for causes he would have supported. It didn’t sell by the way – wrong aesthetics (or wrong cause). This pitch by the Guernica V. fund is breath-taking in its lack of understanding of Picasso’s painting. The press release – reproduced in full below – ‘speaks in tongues,’ but……
is clear enough. While our health workers are insulted with a 1 per cent pay rise, the super rich can capitalise on the situation. When Picasso was stuck in Paris during the Nazi occupation, a German officer visited him in his studio, brandishing a postcard of Guernica. ‘Did you do this?’ he asked. ‘No,’ replied Picasso, ‘you did.’
More here – make of it what you will.
Graphic and writing by Jan Woolf
Painting, Guernica by Picasso
Advertising by the Guernica V. Fund