Stolen Picasso Uncovered Man Arrested

Caught! $200,000 Picasso recoverd by police thief apprehended

A Picasso drawing that was stolen from a San Francisco art gallery earlier this week and valued at between $125,000- $250,000 has been recovered. Surveillance camera images of the suspect were circulated globally which has led to the arrest of a New Jersey man who  snatched the drawing and fled in a taxi.  Mark Lugo, 31, of Hoboken, N.J. was arrested on Wednesday at flat in Napa,he is being held on $5 million bail. The artwork was found undamaged removed from its frame. The 1965 pencil-on-paper drawing  titled “Tete de Femme”  was bought at a New York auction last spring. Rowland Weinstein, the gallery owner stated his delight at the return of the masterpiece,”I’ve had some sleepless nights and I feel very, very lucky and very relieved that the Picasso wasn’t harmed and will be returned back safely.” The gallery now plans to upgrade its security.
Picasso was born October 25, 1881, Málaga, Spain and died April 8, 1973, Mougins, France. He was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century and the creator (with Georges Braque and Juan Gris) of Cubism.
The enormous body of Picasso’s work remains, his legacy a tribute to the vitality of the “disquieting” Spaniard with the “sombre piercing” eyes who superstitiously believed that work would keep him alive. For nearly 80 of his 91 years Picasso devoted himself to an artistic production that contributed significantly to and paralleled the whole development of modern art in the 20th century.

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