The owner of a Picasso-like painting bought at a flea market for $2 conceded Thursday that the work was probably not actually Picasso's.
"It is a very beautiful painting," said James Willis of Anderson. "It is done by a master. Most likely it's not by Picasso himself - perhaps by one of his students."The painting resembles genuine works by Pablo Picasso, who died in 1973.
Pictures of the work were broadcast nationwide after Willis said he had a letter from the Picasso Museum of Paris saying the painting appeared to be authentic and suggesting he contact the French Syndicate of Painters, which he described as an artists' union.
But conservator Brigitte Leal of the Paris museum said Thursday she had not heard of Willis or the French Syndicate of Painters and said the painter's survivors were the only people with authority to classify one of Picasso's works.
Willis bought the painting for $300 last year from Jerry's Junkatique secondhand store, which displayed the work after owner Jerry Spradlin paid $2 for it at a flea market in 1986.