In the context of Theft of The Weeping Woman from the National Gallery of Victoria, analyze the Contemporary reactions to the theft of the The theft.
In August 1986, while the painting was yet to be recovered, then-Australian Treasurer Paul Keating was caricatured in a political cartoon as the "Weeping Woman", his cause of sorrow being the 1986 Federal Budget.According to McCaughey, "a philistine piece" was written by B. A. Santamaria at around the same time, which urged that if the "Australian Cultural Terrorists" had in fact destroyed Picasso's work, they be awarded the Order of Australia.A columnist in The Age commented that the thieves had "nicked Picasso's Weeping Woman from McCaughey Mansions", a reference to an old radio program, "McCackie Mansion", involving Mo McCackie, a character created by the late comedian, Roy Rene.Chilean Australian artist Juan Davila painted a work titled Picasso Theft and offered to donate it to the National Gallery of Victoria in place of the stolen painting. Davila wrote that "mine is a real one".
Paul Keating Victoria Federal Budget political cartoon Juan Davila The Age Order of Australia Australian Treasurer Roy Rene National Gallery of Victoria Chilean Australian B. A. Santamaria