Picasso work is renamed... after nightclub
IT HAS been known and admired by Picasso experts for more than 80 years as The Girl With A Red Beret And Pompom.
But now the 1937 portrait has been renamed Annabel by the owner of the fashionable London nightclub of the same name – to the dismay of some in the art world.
The painting had been in a private collection before Annabel’s owner Richard Caring apparently bought it for between £20 million and £30 million last year.
Now the masterpiece hangs above the reception desk in the entrance hall of the Mayfair club – due to reopen next month after a £55million revamp – with Caring planning to place a plaque below it, labelling it ‘Annabel’.
A source close to the club said: ‘We know it’s a very beautiful painting and a very important one, but it was just too tempting not to rename it Annabel.’
The portrait is one of many Picasso painted of his muse and lover Marie-Therese Walter, who began a relationship with the artist when she was 17 and he was 45 and married.
The renaming has caused some consternation among art scholars.
Picasso expert Professor Elizabeth Cowling, honorary fellow at the Edinburgh School of Art, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘As a historian of Picasso’s work, I think it’s a pity to do anything that detaches the picture from its actual context and anything that seeks to create a fake context for it. ‘The value of the painting is to quite a considerable extent dependent on the identification of the model as Marie-Therese Walter. By renaming it Annabel, the club is devaluing it. Anyone interested in Picasso’s work won’t, of course, take the nickname seriously. ‘All I hope is that the club will look after the painting and make sure it comes to no harm.’ Annabel’s was set up in Mayfair in 1963 by Mark Birley, and named after his wife. She later married Sir James Goldsmith. Now 83, she is the mother of Tory MP Zac Goldsmith and journalist and campaigner Jemima. Annabel’s has hosted guests ranging from Frank Sinatra to Lady Diana over its illustrious history. Caring bought it from Mark’s son Robin in 2007.