Two Old Treasures - Picasso and Mike Cunningham
Author: Sam Scribbler

I am a treasure hunter. I don't mean that I leave the house
each morning armed with a pick and a shovel and an old map
marked with an X. No. My tools are the Antique Trade Gazette's
auction guide, my old motor and forty-years accumulated
knowledge of art and antiques. I travel the world looking for
mistakes made by auction houses and dealers wherever I can find
them. I eat most days, but I'm not getting rich.

Picture restorer, dealer, Mike Cunningham was one of the
greatest treasures I ever found. We clicked from the moment we
met and I was sure we would grow old together. When he died in
his sleep in 2000 I was more upset than when I lost my Dad. Mike
was fifty-two years old, fit and full of plans for the future.
He had recently decided to sell his London home and retire to
Hastings, on the south coast of England, where he and partner
Sue already owned a small house in the Old Town. Mike and I had
bought many pictures together over the preceding twenty years,
most of them turned over quickly for a profit. But when Mike
died we were still half shares in a painting that, if we had
some provenance, would have secured our futures and that of a
small African nation.

Mike bought the picture from some Irish travellers on the
Goldbourne Road (off Portobello Road, London) one, very wet,
Friday morning in 1980. He paid two pounds ($4.00). He didn't
even know that it was a painting. All he could see in the
half-light was a muddy, cupboard door, burned on one side with
traces of paint on the charcoal. The other side had old
wallpaper stuck to it and a letter attached to the top
right-hand corner. He did think the letter looked interesting -
although he couldn't speak French - and he thought he recognised
the signature. Later, back at his studio in Fulham he wiped the
mud from the charcoal and discovered Picasso's Guernica - in
colour http://www.yopicasso.com.

The painting measures 45.5cm x 57.5cm is signed Picasso 1937 in
the body of the fallen warrior. The letter on the back was
addressed to Gordon Davy of the R.A.E. Cap D'Antibes 2.1.46 and
signed Picasso and a footnote - Operation Special Executive
Project Design - Guernica. The top left-hand corner of this
letter (with "Pour Gordon" written on it) was detached and lost,
but a Photograph does exist.

In July 1981 Mike showed the picture to Roland Penrose. Penrose
liked the picture. He said that he had never seen it himself,
but he promised he would make some inquiries. Unfortunately Mr
Penrose died, before Mike was able to enter into correspondence
with him.

It took me a couple of years to persuade him, but, in a moment
of weakness, Mike eventually sold me a half share. In 1987 we
approached a handwriting expert at New Scotland Yard and asked
her to take a look at the letter. Encouragingly she saw no
reason to suppose the letter was a fake, although, due to the
lack of suitable reference for comparison, she was unable to
give a definitive judgment. The hunt began for samples of
Picasso's writing from around the same date, written with a
brush and, preferably, written while he was in a similar frame
of mind.

I had the brilliant idea that we should write to the Picasso
committee in Paris and ask for help. This, of course, was a
disaster. The committee simply condemned the picture. They had
no reference for it and we had no history.

We did find some suitable examples of handwriting over the next
few years and in 1990 the expert wrote to us saying that: "There
are some fairly good matches between the writings but I keep
coming back to the letter 'd' " - she was unable to find a match
for this letter in the same form. She continued to be
encouraging and suggested that we keep searching for painted
handwriting.

I suppose we did make some effort to find more reference, but
not a lot. We were always busy with other things. Mike made a
very nice box for the painting and for the next ten years it
rarely saw the light of day. I haven't seen it since the year
before Mike died. I don't even know where it is. I miss my
friend a lot more than I miss the painting - I'd rather hear
Mike's voice on the end of the phone with a cheery - "'ello,
mate. You 'eard the one about the bow-legged vicar and the
policewoman?" - than ever have a provenance for a painting -
even Picasso's Guernica in colour.


About The Author: Sam Scribbler Ex ad-man living at the end of
the world. http://yopicasso.com