Little-known Picasso set to fetch £8m at auction

A little-known painting by Pablo Picasso is expected to raise up to $15m (£8m) when it goes under the hammer in New York in May.

A little-known painting by Pablo Picasso is expected to raise up to $15m (£8m) when it goes under the hammer in New York in May.

The 1921 painting, Tête et Main de Femme, which is owned by a private European collector, is one of 60 works being sold by Christie's in an impressionist and modern art evening sale.

Other paintings include works by Paul Cezanne, whose work Les Grandes Arbres au Jas de Bouffan, dated between 1885 and 1887, is expected to raise between $12m and $16m. The work has a row of five solidly outlined trees marking a landmark shift away from impressionism.

The painting is one of 37 19th and 20th-century Western works owned by Maspro Art Gallery in Japan which are being sold in a series of auctions.