Pablo Picasso's "Le Repas Frugal" recovered by the FBI

WILMINGTON, DE. - Acting U.S. Attorney David C. Weiss and Tricia A. Gibbs, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Supervisory Special Agent announced today the unsealing of an indictment charging Marcus Patmon with wire fraud in the attempted sale of a stolen Pablo Picasso etching entitled "Le Repas Frugal." Patmon, 38, is a resident of Miami, Fla. He faces a maximum statutory sentence of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, three years of supervised release, restitution, and a $100 mandatory special assessment. Miami resident Marcus Patmon didn’t want to hang on to this stolen gem, apparently.

He wanted to unload it, and for three months last year he was talking with a potential buyer—an undercover FBI agent. There’s a chance cash trumped any interest in light and form. The etching has an estimated value of $300,000, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware, where an indictment charging Patmon with attempted wire fraud between Florida and Delaware was unsealed Thursday.

Prosecutors say the Picasso etching was snatched during a burglary at a gallery in West Palm Beach in May 2008. Patmon, 38, pretended to be the owner of the etching during the negotiations with the undercover agent, according to a report from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Wilmington. David Hall, the assistant U.S. attorney who is prosecuting the case, did not return a call seeking comment.

The indictment charges that Patmon devised a scheme to defraud a victim identified as "C.E.B." by falsely claiming to be the true owner of "Le Repas Frugal" in connection with its attempted sale. In fact, as Patmon knew, "Le Repas Frugal" had been previously stolen from a West Palm Beach, Fla., art gallery, on May 22, 2008. From July through September 2008, an FBI special agent, acting in an undercover capacity, engaged Patmon in negotiations concerning the sale of the etching, which has an estimated value of $300,000.

An assistant federal public defender was appointed to represent Patmon, a convicted felon in Florida who served time on a felony battery charge several years ago. Patmon faces a maximum statutory sentence of 20 years in prison on the wire fraud charge.This case is being prosecuted by David L. Hall, Assistant U.S. Attorney.

Acting U.S. Attorney David C. Weiss said, "This investigation and prosecution demonstrate our commitment to addressing the illicit sale of stolen art, a problem that is international in scope. I applaud our law enforcement partners, the FBI Art Crime Team and the Palm Beach Police Department, for the thorough investigation that exposed this scheme. Our office will continue to vigorously investigate and prosecute art crime in the future."

About etching the "Le Repas Frugal"

Pablo Picasso "deftly captured nuances of light and form" in his etching "Le Repas Frugal," a Museum of Modern Art publication tells us. The Met said the “attenuated bodies and telling gestures, embody a universal sense of loneliness and quiet isolation that transcends time and place."

Le Repas Frugal The Frugal Meal, 1904 - etching, Image size: 46.3 x 37.7 cm.
Original Picasso Etching with drypoint from 'La Suite des Saltimbanques' on Van Gelder Zonen paper. A very good impression of the second and final state, from the edition of 250 after steel-facing, published by Ambroise Vollard, Paris, 1913. Printed by Louis Fort.

Poised between Picasso’s two most significant periods, 'Le Repas Frugal' represents a pivotal point in the artist’s oeuvre. As part of his first series of prints, entitled 'La Suite des Satimbanques', it contains elements of both the Blue Period, marked by its melancholic introspection, and the Rose Period, characterized by the artist’s fascination with strolling acrobat players.

First printed in small numbers by the master printer Eugene Delatre in 1905, the 'Saltimbanques' plates were later bought by Ambroise Vollard. He had the plates steel-faced and in 1913 the edition was printed by Louis Fort.

Having just learnt the technique from Ricardo Canals, a fellow resident of Montmartre, it is astonishing that Picasso produced this icon in the history of printmaking at the age of only twenty-three. Le Repas Frugal, one of his masterpieces as a printmaker, it was only his second work in the etching medium, a medium which fascinated the artist for the remainder of his life.