Is an early Picasso work in Bosnian town?

Belgrade: Library employees in the small Bosnian town of Kozarska Dubica, also known as Bosanksa Dubica, say that they have a little known work by Pablo Picasso in their library.

According to them, the great Spaniard’s drawing has been stored in the Public Library in Kozarska Dubica secretly for many years. The drawing was unsigned by its author who only put a date on it. However, the library staff has no doubt that the drawing is original. They claim that Bosnian national hero Bosko Silegovic gave Picasso’s work to the library as a gift, which he had received when he was attending a Communist congress in Paris in 1964. Stojan Banjac, the former director of the cultural centre in Kozarska Dubica, said in an interview with local television that he had been afraid of storing such a precious gift for all these years. “Technically, we did not have any proper storage conditions for the drawing at that time. We could preserve it only if we kept silent,” Banjac explained. He added that Picasso’s work had been stored in the library in an ordinary safe since the late 1980s. Mile Zlojutro, the community head in Kozarska Dubica, has said that the drawing would be tested for authenticity. If it is really proven to have been done by Picasso, the drawing will be put on public view with proper safety procedures.