‘Cultural Terrorists’ Demand Aid for Arts : $1-Million Picasso Stolen in Australia

A group calling itself Australian Cultural Terrorists and demanding increased government funding for the arts claimed responsibility today for the weekend theft of a $1-million Picasso oil painting.

Officials of the National Gallery of Victoria said the painting, titled “Weeping Woman,” was taken out of its frame late Saturday.

They said the Picasso depicts a woman convulsed with grief after a fascist attack on a Basque stronghold during the Spanish Civil War.

Police said Melbourne newspapers and radio and television stations received letters today from the group demanding increased government funding for the arts in exchange for the safe return of the painting.

“I can’t imagine that anybody who had genuinely at heart the interests either of art or of art lovers could have perpetrated an action of this sort,” Arts Minister Race Matthews said.

The gallery’s director, Patrick McCaughey, described the theft as urban vandalism and said he doubted Victoria’s state government could meet the thieves’ demands of a “massive” boost to arts funding.

“The demands being made are out of all proportion to the value and importance of this painting for the collection at the gallery and the people of Victoria,” McCaughey said.

“Whatever they’ve done, if the picture is ruined or damaged in any way, then this gallery would never be able to afford another Picasso painting,” he said.

The painting, acquired in December, is the gallery’s most significant 20th-Century work, officials said.

Police said they are conducting a thorough search of the gallery in case the painting has been hidden in the building.