Yup, The Internet Is In Charge Of Saving Or Shredding A Picasso

Here's everything you need to know about the very real Picasso print that Cards Against Humanity will either shred or donate to an art museum.

This week in WTF art news, the makers of Cards Against Humanity -- you know, "the party game for horrible people" -- are threatening to shred an original Picasso print.

Gird your loins, museums, 'cause the folks at CAH have no qualms about holding relatively famous art hostage, all in the name of good old irreverent fun.

The stunt is part of Cards Against Humanity's "Eight Sensible Gifts for Hanukkah" project, in which the company invited fans to sign up (read: pay $15 each) to receive eight days worth of mysterious, holiday-themed gifts. Around 150,000 people signed up, and so far they have received socks, socks and socks.

Oh, and then the company used some of the money fans paid to invent the Cards Against Humanity U.S. Treasury Inflation Protected Securities Fund, donate to Chicago’s NPR station WBEZ, and provide paid vacations to the folks working at CAH's Chinese printer. All seemingly great or OK things.

After all, according to a delightful Wikipedia entry, "the creators of Cards Against Humanity have been charitable." Giving paid vacations to the people who have helped turn a Kickstarter campaign into a wildly popular manufacturer of naughty party tricks is indeed great.

But on the seventh day of Hanukkah, CAH used some of its money to purchase "Tête de Faune," an original 1962 Picasso print, and now its fate is in the hands of the Internet. Over on the "Eight Sensible Gifts" website, the company is asking fans to vote on whether it should shred the print into 150,000 laser-cut pieces, or donate the work to a museum.

Should we be upset? CAH is known for trolling the World Wide Web. Remember last year when it gave participants the "exclusive" license to one square foot of a remote island in Maine? That being said, destroying a moderately well-known work of art is not exactly a novel idea.

Artists have been destroying other artists' works for a while now. There was that one time, when Miami Artist Maximo Caminero purposefully destroyed Ai Weiwei's vases to protest the fact that a local museum was only promoting international art. Or, that time New York artist named Tony Shafrazi actually vandalized another Picasso -- "Guernica" -- to protest the Vietnam War, among other things. OR, that time Jake and Dinos Chapman defaced some of Francisco Goya's art.

All right, all right, we get it. Destruction is performance! But what are we really to make of the "Tête de Faune" debacle? Well, here's everything you need to know before you a) become unreasonably angry because the world makes no sense, or b) start laughing hysterically because ... the world makes no sense.

Which Picasso work is it?

According to Artsy, "Tête de Faune" is a linocut that dates back to 1962. There are 50 editions of the linocut -- a version of a woodcut using linoleum -- so Cards Against Humanity's edition is not the only one.

Is it famous?

Well, it's a Picasso, which in itself is pretty famous. But compared to, say, one-of-a-kind paintings like "Guernica" or "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon," editions of "Tête de Faune" pale in comparison.

How much is it worth?

A sale at Swann Galleries in 2008 slapped "Tête de Faune" with a price tag between $15,000 and $20,000. In 2014, Sotheby's estimated the piece to be worth as much as $30,000. Most recently, the work went for about $14,000 at a Swiss auction.

What happens if it's shredded?

If participants vote to laser-cut the print, the Cards Against Humanity folks will shred "Tête de Faune" into 150,000 tiny squares and send everyone who's participating in Eight Sensible Gifts for Hanukkah their own scrap of a real Picasso.

What happens if it's donated?

The work will end up in the Art Institute of Chicago's permanent collection.

What do we think?

Just donate the piece, guys. As much as CAH thinks shredding a Picasso could be a solid, nihilistic time, it's just not that new of an idea.

What can you do?

Voting opens on Saturday, Dec. 26, and runs through the end of Thursday, Dec. 31. You can select "Cut it up and send me a 1.5mm scrap of a real Picasso" or "This is an outrage! Donate it to the Art Institute."

The results will be posted here. Stay tuned.

Also on HuffPost:

Picasso en GIFs

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot