Res Publica: The Chicago Picasso and its Copies

The Chicago Picasso, a gift from the artist to the people of Chicago, was installed in 1967 in Civic Center Plaza to great fanfare, but also great puzzlement. It was often referred to by members of the public as “that thing,” and it seemed quite uncertain what kind of thing it was. Its identity as an artwork became even more uncertain when a lawsuit called its copyright into question, and in so doing questioned whether it was even a Picasso at all. The lawsuit brought together a University of Chicago-trained lawyer with interests in artists’ rights, a surrealist artist-publisher, and the neo-dada/pop artist Claes Oldenburg, for whom the Picasso was thoroughly enmeshed in the political events around the Democratic National Convention in 1968. Presented by the Chicago Women’s Alliance