A drawing by Pablo Picasso will be sold in Indianapolis in order to benefit the Timmy Foundation (www.timmyfoundation.org), a locally based global health and student empowerment non-profit. Dr. Chuck Dietzen, the Timmy Foundation's founder and Marion County resident, purchased the Picasso more than a decade ago, with the hope that it would someday benefit the foundation's efforts.
After years of international medical work (which included working with Mother Teresa in India), Dr. Dietzen founded the Timmy Foundation in 1997. From its humble beginnings in a hospital closet on Indianapolis’s Northeast side, the Foundation now works with hundreds of high school and college students, medical professionals, and volunteers from across the US to expand access to healthcare and education worldwide. Currently, the foundation runs medical clinics in Ecuador, Guatemala, and Nigeria, supports partner organizations in four countries across two continents, and has student chapters at numerous universities and high schools, including ones in Indiana. The foundation was named after Dietzen’s brother, who died in infancy.
Two local companies volunteered to help sell the Picasso and make Dr. Dietzen's hopes a reality. ModernMasters Fine Art & Brokerage, an Indianapolis-based fine art company, donated its time, expertise, and company resources to have the piece examined by the Picasso family in France. Through these efforts, a Certificate of Authenticity was obtained from the Estate of Pablo Picasso (which bears the signature of Claude Picasso).
Editions Limited Gallery has volunteered to help sell the Picasso. Editions, located at 838 E 65th Street, Indianapolis, will display the piece for interested collectors and will assist in processing the sale. The work will be available for examination and consideration on Wednesday September 22, 2010. Private views are available upon request.
Dr. Dietzen will be donating the profits from the sale to the Timmy Foundation. The donation will drastically help the foundation expand its outreach and impact. With well-established partner organizations in each country where it works, a $100 donation to the Timmy Foundation can treat two hundred patients for intestinal parasites. $250 helps twenty-five patients get the X-rays they need, and $350 can fund a hernia operation. $1,000 could purchase a year’s worth of children’s vitamins for forty patients, and $15,000 could fund a full time physician to work at one of the Timmy Foundation's medical clinics.
Dr. Dietzen is eager for the foundation to reap the benefit of the Picasso sale. The work was appraised by Sharon Theobald of Appraisal Associates International in December of 2009. Since then, several drawings by Picasso which were the same dimensions as Dietzen’s have crossed the public auction block. For example, a similar work sold at Christie’s London on 02/03/2010 for $48,149. Another sold at Christie’s London on 06/24/2010 for $58,597, while a third sold at Matsart Auctioneers on 06/30/2010 for $62,500.
For more information about pricing and viewings, please contact Chris Mallon at Editions Limited (317) 466-9940 (chris@editionsltd.com) or Rhonda Long-Sharp, ModernMasters’ owner (Rhonda@modernmastersfab.com). For information about the Timmy Foundation, please contact Matt MacGregor, Executive Director, at matt@timmyfoundation.org or 317 920 1822, ext. 1 or visit their website at www.timmyfoundation.org.