Provenance/authentication: where to check?

 

No one wants to learn that the work they have held for many years, that they have cherished and on which they have often invested considerable amounts of money (insurance, restoration, framing, etc.) is a fake or stolen work.

How, if not to prevent, at least reduce the level of risk associated with this kind of problem?

In the case of highly collectible artwork, national and international, some elementary precautions are mandatory.

  1. Is the work that I plan to acquire or already have ever been declared "problematic" or stolen?

I can refer to either of the following sources: The Art Loss Register, ArtClaim Database, Art Alert in Quebec/Canada, the National Stolen Art File of the FBI in the United States.

  1. Is the work that I plan to acquire or already own have effectively been produced by this artist (authenticity)?
  • Is there a "catalogue raisonné" of the works of this artist?
  • I can check in a catalogue of such near-universal library as the Library of Congress Online Catalog or WorldCat. More, WorldCat will indicate which library near you has a copy of the said catalogue;
  • I can consult the database of the IFAR (International Foundation for Art Research);
  • "Catalogues raisonnés" are increasingly developed, maintained and accessible only "online".   An excellent tool to do this: panOpticon.
  • Authenticity research: I can, if I am ready to pay $4 000, ask for a search for authenticity by the IFAR staff.   Mearto has recently introduced a similar service at a variable price.   It should be noted that the document resulting from this expertise can never constitute irrefutable proof of the authenticity of the artwork.
  • Where can I validate if the signature of the artist is genuine?  I can look at either of the following directories to view copies of signature or monograms: Art Signature Dictionary, John Castagno Artists Signature, Artprice.com and FindArtInfo.
  • How, from a simple image, can we identify the author of the work or related works on the Internet?  Searching for images with Google Images sometimes produces spectacular results.
  1. For provenance research, IFAR has produced an excellent information page for collectors. One of the articles is specifically about this subject.
  2. Finally, consult the article "Getting Started with Provenance Research" by Artwork Archive which offers an excellent summary of the process to follow.

Remember:

  • The importance of properly documenting your collection. There are tools available to help you to do that.  See our page for this purpose.
  • It is important, at the time of the acquisition, that you make sure you are provided by the sellers with all the documents necessary to guarantee inter alia, provenance and authenticity. The site Art - Collecting.com has published a list of items to obtain from your gallery at the time of the purchase.  See also Artwork Archive website on the same subject.
  • Another element to consider, the one prior to the acquisition itself, is the obtaining of a credible "condition report".   The so-called "condition report" must constitute a master piece of the documentation of your work.  Tools are available to help you produce, if you have not already done so, a credible "condition report".   Note: CatalogIt, Articheck.
  • The blog of the ARCA is an excellent source of information on art and the diverse forms of crimes arising therefrom.
  • Anecdotally, The Authentication in Art Foundation in late 2015 published a list of the main known forgers who work the sixteenth century to the present.
  • That being said, the debate is raging among the authentication/provenance community people. Who is able to authenticate an artwork? Many divergent interests are at stake!
  • A flock of new companies have appeared recently offering their solution to the problem of provenance/authentication. Let us note:
    • Verisart, proposes to create a permanent online inventory of all the works of art produced until today, something like a "catalogue raisonné", a publication that aims to offer a comprehensive catalog of an individual artist's work—but for all of art history (Source: Artnet News). 
    • Magnus, downloadable on your smartphone, promises you the optical identification of the work that interests you. Magnus allows you to identify a work (artist, title, sale price of the gallery or auction, etc.) from a photo taken from your smartphone. The photo and its identifiers can then be shared on the social networks or sent by e-mail. Attention: the application currently only covers galleries in New York City.
    • In the same vein, Alitheon promises the traceability of any object of interest through the simple photographic signature of the said object.
    • ARTMYN, for its part, thanks to a new high-definition digitization technology, promises to obtain a fine portrait of the condition of the work, which they identify with its "DNA", supporting or even surpassing the opinion of experts.
    • Art Fraud Insights from Washington, DC offers a new service, "Art and Artistic Legacy Protection", to "scour the darkest corners of the internet for bogus sale listings and unauthorized copies".
    • Seezart allows you to "generate certificates of authenticity (COA) for your artworks with just a few clicks. By digitally certifying artworks, you establish your artwork's permanent record on a digital, decentralized and secure global ledger. Seezart uses the Blockchain technology to build this ledger and provide traceability to artworks".
    • Another Blockchain application, Codex proposes its Codex Protocol as "an industry backed decentralized title registry for Art & Collectibles. Codex stores ownership + provenance while ensuring privacy".   Be sure to listen to Marion Maneker's excellent interview with the promoter about his project.
    • The Blockchain technology has the wind in its sails.   In the same vein: Artory,  Ascribe, Binded and Tagsmart.  
    • Artrendex proposes, through the use of artificial intelligence (AI), to proceed with the identification of the authenticity of paintings by the "capture of artist's spontaneous unintentional signature in the way strokes are rendered".
    • Art Detective aims to improve knowledge of the UK’s public art collection. It is an award-winning, free-to-use online network that connects public art collections with members of the public and providers of specialist knowledge.
    • As in any nascent industry, it can be expected that one form or another of consolidation will eventually lead to the emergence of a winner from all these initiatives.
    • For a general overview of the solutions proposed, see the recent blogs of Authentication in Art on this subject.
    • Finally, don't forget to check out our page dedicated to the best mobile applications for the art collector.   You will find described a large number of portable applications likely to facilitate the search, storage and transfer of information related to your works or collections.
    • General comment: 
      • Until now, none of the proposed solutions seem to me to be the expected Holy Grail that could solve a growing problem, authentication-provenance, which pollutes the visual arts milieu.
      • "Garbage in, garbage out."   The most sophisticated blockchain will not be able to make authentic a work that is not!

Texts of interest:

 

Additional contribution?

You can improve this page? Please contact us.