WELLINGTON: They were billed as works of art by Pablo Picassopainting became famous that Australian art museumThe decision to display in an exhibition restricted to female visitors led to gender discrimination lawsuits. The painting again made international headlines when the gallery re-hung it in a women’s bathroom to circumvent a legal ruling that said men could not be banned from viewing it.
But the artwork at the center of the uproar was not by Picasso or other well-known artists who are said to have created it, it emerged this week when the curator of an all-female exhibition admitted she painted it herself.
Kirsha Kaechele wrote on Tasmania’s Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) blog on Wednesday that she declared herself the creator of the work after receiving questions from journalists and the Picasso Administration in France about its authenticity.
But he had been on display for more than three years before his provenance was questioned, he said, even though he had accidentally hung one of the fake paintings.
“I imagine a Picasso scholar, or just a Picasso fan, or just someone who Googles things, will visit the Ladies Lounge and see that the painting is upside down and expose me on social media,” Kaechele wrote. But nobody did.
The saga began when Kaechele created a women-only area at MONA in 2020 for visitors to “enjoy the pure company of women” and was a statement about exclusion from historically male-dominated spaces.
The so-called Ladies Lounge offers high tea, massages and champagne served by male butlers, and is open to anyone who identifies as a woman. Weird and absurd title cards were displayed alongside paintings, antiques and fake jewelry that was “obviously new and in some cases plastic,” he added.
The lounge should display “the most important works of art in the world,” Kaechele wrote this week, so that men “feel invincible.”
It works. MONA – famous in Australia for its bizarre and subversive exhibitions and events – was ordered by the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Court in March to stop denying men entry to the Ladies Lounge after complaints from male gallery patrons who were angry at being denied entry. space during the 2023 visit.
“Visitor participation in the process of being allowed or denied entry is part of the artwork,” said Vice President of the court Richard Grueber in his decision, which found the exhibition discriminatory.
Grueber ruled that people have suffered losses, in part because the works in the Ladies Lounge were becoming famous. Kaechele described them at the hearing as “a carefully selected selection of paintings by the world’s leading artists, including two paintings that show Picasso’s genius spectacularly.”
The court ordered MONA not to deny the men entry. In his ruling, Grueber also called out a group of women who joined in supporting Kaechele by dressing appropriately in business attire and silently crossing and crossing their legs together during the hearing. A woman “read with a feminist text,” he wrote, and the group left the court “on a slow path led by Ms. Kaechele to the sound of a Robert Palmer song.”
The conduct was “inappropriate, disrespectful and disrespectful, and at worst humiliating and humiliating,” Grueber added.
Instead of admitting men to the exhibition, Kaechele – who is married to gallery owner David Walsh – installed a working toilet in the space, turning it into a women’s bathroom to exploit a legal loophole to allow men to refuse. to proceed.
The international press covered the development in May, without questioning whether the gallery would hang a Picasso painting in a public bathroom. However, the Guardian reported on Wednesday that they had questioned Kaechele about the authenticity of the work, prompting him to deny it.
A MONA spokeswoman told The Associated Press that the gallery would not provide further details about the letter Kaechele said she received from the Picasso Administration. When the AP asked MONA to confirm whether the statement in Kaechele’s blog post, titled “Art is Not Truth: Pablo Picasso,” was accurate, a spokeswoman, Sara Gates-Matthews, said the post was “actually Kirsha’s admission.”
The Picasso administration, which manages the late Spanish artist’s estate, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“I’m very happy that people believe my great-grandfather spent the summer with Picasso in a Swiss chateau, where he and my grandfather were lovers when he threw a plate at him because of the rudeness (it seems) that bounced off his head and caused a crack. you see inching through gold ceramic plates in the Ladies Lounge,” Kaechele wrote this week, pointing to a title card in one of the paintings.
“The real plate will kill someone – it is made of solid gold. Well, it will dented the forehead because the real plate is actually a coin.”
But the artwork at the center of the uproar was not by Picasso or other well-known artists who are said to have created it, it emerged this week when the curator of an all-female exhibition admitted she painted it herself.
Kirsha Kaechele wrote on Tasmania’s Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) blog on Wednesday that she declared herself the creator of the work after receiving questions from journalists and the Picasso Administration in France about its authenticity.
But he had been on display for more than three years before his provenance was questioned, he said, even though he had accidentally hung one of the fake paintings.
“I imagine a Picasso scholar, or just a Picasso fan, or just someone who Googles things, will visit the Ladies Lounge and see that the painting is upside down and expose me on social media,” Kaechele wrote. But nobody did.
The saga began when Kaechele created a women-only area at MONA in 2020 for visitors to “enjoy the pure company of women” and was a statement about exclusion from historically male-dominated spaces.
The so-called Ladies Lounge offers high tea, massages and champagne served by male butlers, and is open to anyone who identifies as a woman. Weird and absurd title cards were displayed alongside paintings, antiques and fake jewelry that was “obviously new and in some cases plastic,” he added.
The lounge should display “the most important works of art in the world,” Kaechele wrote this week, so that men “feel invincible.”
It works. MONA – famous in Australia for its bizarre and subversive exhibitions and events – was ordered by the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Court in March to stop denying men entry to the Ladies Lounge after complaints from male gallery patrons who were angry at being denied entry. space during the 2023 visit.
“Visitor participation in the process of being allowed or denied entry is part of the artwork,” said Vice President of the court Richard Grueber in his decision, which found the exhibition discriminatory.
Grueber ruled that people have suffered losses, in part because the works in the Ladies Lounge were becoming famous. Kaechele described them at the hearing as “a carefully selected selection of paintings by the world’s leading artists, including two paintings that show Picasso’s genius spectacularly.”
The court ordered MONA not to deny the men entry. In his ruling, Grueber also called out a group of women who joined in supporting Kaechele by dressing appropriately in business attire and silently crossing and crossing their legs together during the hearing. A woman “read with a feminist text,” he wrote, and the group left the court “on a slow path led by Ms. Kaechele to the sound of a Robert Palmer song.”
The conduct was “inappropriate, disrespectful and disrespectful, and at worst humiliating and humiliating,” Grueber added.
Instead of admitting men to the exhibition, Kaechele – who is married to gallery owner David Walsh – installed a working toilet in the space, turning it into a women’s bathroom to exploit a legal loophole to allow men to refuse. to proceed.
The international press covered the development in May, without questioning whether the gallery would hang a Picasso painting in a public bathroom. However, the Guardian reported on Wednesday that they had questioned Kaechele about the authenticity of the work, prompting him to deny it.
A MONA spokeswoman told The Associated Press that the gallery would not provide further details about the letter Kaechele said she received from the Picasso Administration. When the AP asked MONA to confirm whether the statement in Kaechele’s blog post, titled “Art is Not Truth: Pablo Picasso,” was accurate, a spokeswoman, Sara Gates-Matthews, said the post was “actually Kirsha’s admission.”
The Picasso administration, which manages the late Spanish artist’s estate, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“I’m very happy that people believe my great-grandfather spent the summer with Picasso in a Swiss chateau, where he and my grandfather were lovers when he threw a plate at him because of the rudeness (it seems) that bounced off his head and caused a crack. you see inching through gold ceramic plates in the Ladies Lounge,” Kaechele wrote this week, pointing to a title card in one of the paintings.
“The real plate will kill someone – it is made of solid gold. Well, it will dented the forehead because the real plate is actually a coin.”