The public still hasn't seen the Picasso at the Evansville Museum, but that could change soon

The public still hasn’t laid eyes on it in person. But according to executive director Mary McNamee Bower, the museum is “working toward” changing that.

“We are actually right now going through a master planning project, and one item being addressed is the feasibility of exhibiting the Picasso,” she said. “We’re looking at how we can best share (it) with the community.”

If that happens, it would lift the veil on what’s become a simmering mystery in the city.

“Seated Woman With Red Hat” – a rare glass artwork and recreation of another Picasso painting – has been hidden away since the museum announced its discovery in 2012. Only one person – Bower – is allowed to speak publicly about it, and the museum refuses to say where the piece is kept. Bower said it’s in an undisclosed location somewhere in the city.

Even its authorship is somewhat hazy. Newspaper archive accounts claim Picasso simply OK'd the work while others pieced it together. It's unknown how hands-on he was.

Bower didn’t provide specifics on when the work could, maybe, see the light of day. But any exhibit would mark the first time it’s been made available to the public since at least the 1960s. 

A show like that, Bower said, would be a “great success for the community.”

“This is a unique piece, and it has a fascinating history by one of the greatest artists of the 20^th century,” she said. “I think it’s a jewel for the museum to have.”

A phone call and a huge discovery

They wouldn’t have known they had it without a phone call from Arlan Ettinger.

In 2012, the president of Guernsey's Auction House in New York City was trying to track down a rare cluster of artworks created through a process called gemmail: when fragments of painted glass are bonded together with heated enamel. The piece is then lit from the back, allowing its myriad colors to shine.

According to the Corning Museum of Glass, the French artist Jean Crotti founded the technique in the 1930s and shared his idea with lighting expert Roger Malherbe-Navarre, who opened a studio in Paris in the 1950s.

They eventually caught the attention of Picasso. He praised gemmail as a “new artform” and agreed to have 50 of his paintings reimagined in the new style. “Seated Woman with Red Hat” was one of them.

A traveling exhibit of gemmail works from Picasso and others toured the U.S. in the 1950s and ’60s, attracting rich buyers such as Nelson Rockefeller and the Emperor of Japan.

But one zeroed in “Seated Woman” in particular. His name was Raymond Loewy: a famous industrial designer and living, breathing “Mad Men” character. Called “the father of streamlining,” he designed everything from Coca-Cola machines to the Lucky Strike logo to the outside design of Air Force One. He died in 1986.

Ettinger represented his estate and found papers showing that Loewy bought “Seated Woman” in 1957. Six years later, Loewy gifted it to a friend of his: Siegfried Weng, the then-director of the Evansville Museum.

So Ettinger called the museum. They responded, he said, with confusion.

“No one knew what we were talking about (when) we asked about the Picasso,” he said. “It looked like we hit a dead end.”

But a few days later, the museum got back to him with good news. They had found the Picasso in a storage crate. Because its artist was erroneously listed as Gemmaux – the plural of gemmail – it had gone unnoticed for decades.

The story soon went viral, with The New York Times and NPR reporting that the value of “Seated Woman” could reach as high as $40 million. 

“They were so grateful they boasted about making a bronze bust of my head in front of the museum,” Ettinger said of museum officials.

But the attention became overwhelming. And because of rampant speculation about the work, the museum decided only one person should speak about it publicly, Bower said.

They also feared it would be too expensive to keep, so they announced plans to have Guernsey’s sell the piece through a private auction. Guernsey’s posted a flashy listing to its website, complete with a full backstory of gemmail and “Seated Woman” itself. Included are pictures of Loewy, stoically looking on as the work hangs on his wall.

But despite the hoopla, the piece never sold. The museum eventually contacted Ettinger and told him they planned to keep it. In a phone interview last month, he bristled at the idea that the piece has been in storage all this time.

“One would hope that at some point they will see fit to present this exceptional work of art to the public,” he said.

The museum is mulling how to do just that. But some old concerns remain.

Bower said officials decided to sell “Seated Woman” in 2012 because they were concerned they couldn’t adequately insure and secure such a valuable work.

“Those are issues we’d still be addressing,” she said.

"Expert craftsmen'

The museum’s collection includes several valuable pieces. But “Seated Woman” could be one of the most unique.

Gemmail is complicated. According to a 1961 article in the Cincinnati Enquirer about a traveling gemmaux exhibit, “the artist himself does not execute the work.” Instead, “expert craftsmen” take painted glass slabs of varying thickness and fit them together while others stand on stepladders above them, telling their partners where the pieces should go to best filter the light.

It’s then put together with multiple kinds of glue – some temporary, some permanent – before being incrementally fired and cooled in a specialized kiln, the Guernsey’s website states.

The final steps, though, are the most crucial for the piece’s validity: it must be signed and approved by the original artist. No gemmail work can be displayed without that.

And at the top-right corner of “Seated Woman With Red Hat,” the signature is clear: “Picasso.