The Financial Times charts the ambitious efforts and long time frame for bringing an artist’s Catalog Raisonné to fruition, the effects this effort can often have on an artist’s market, and the resulting disputes over authenticity of works that may occur as a result.  “The authentication of individual works clearly belongs in the purview of the individual author or foundation,” says Deborah Aaronson, Phaidon’s group publisher, who just published the final volume in Andy Warhol’s Catalog Raisonné. “Authentication is clearly a huge issue with Warhol, so it’s not our policy to get caught up with those things.” (more…)

Former banker Jonathan Weal is facing prison time after allegedly withholding information on his art collection during bankruptcy proceedings, a collection that included a work recently authenticated as a J.M.W. Turner seascape.  “Mr Weal was required by law to declare all property that he owns but failed to do so,” says prosecutor Klentiana Mahmutaj. (more…)

A group of researchers working at Geneva’s Fine Arts Experts Institute have made the claim that about half of all artworks in circulation today are fakes, an estimate “When you buy an apartment, you always get an appraisal first. But in the art world, until recently, you could buy works for 10 million euros without sufficient documentation,” says FAEI chief Yann Walther. (more…)

The Guardian takes a look at the faked and forged paintings often accepted as real works by master artists, and the conditions that produce these falsely attributed works.  “There’s lots going on, from academic incompetence to really dirty stuff,” says Oxford professor Martin Kemp. “Documentation, scientific analysis and judgment by eye are used – and ignored – opportunistically in ways that suit each advocate, who too frequently has undeclared interests.” (more…)

The hotly contested painting Red, Black, and Silver has been authenticated as the final painting from artist Jackson Pollock, given to his mistress shortly before his death in 1956.  The painting had long believed to have been a Pollock, but was blocked from authentication by Pollock’s wife, Lee Krasner, who held a personal vendetta against his mistress, Ruth Kligman.  That changes today, now that authorities have found strands of Pollock’s hair in the canvas, as well as sand unique to the beaches around his East Hamptons home.  “The world was flat. Now it is round. It’s Galileo. Science can now be used to authenticate the art.  We are [tracing] the painting back to where it was executed. It’s very CSI.”  Says artist and Kligman estate trustee Jonathan Cramer.      (more…)

A recently discovered painting has been confirmed as an authentic Van Gogh, and is set to go on view at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam later this month.  The work, Sunset at Montmajour, was identified as a Van Gogh by the materials and through personal letters, in which the artist describes the work to his brother Theo.  The work had sat in an attic for years, held by a discouraged Norwegian man who had been told the work was not authentic almost twenty years prior.  Researcher Teio Meedendorp commented that he and his fellow researchers “have found answers to all the key questions, which is remarkable for a painting that has been lost for more than 100 years.” (more…)

A group of friends in the Canadian province of Ontario are convinced that a painting they purchased on eBay for $585 is actually a work by American master Edward Hopper.  The group of Canadians, who had previously made money buying and reselling paintings online, have spent over six years and $40,000 to try and authenticate the work, and are currently waiting for approval from a leading Hopper expert.  The work is of particular note, as it bears a strong resemblance to Hopper’s High Noon, questioning whether this disputed piece may have been a study or forgery. (more…)

At a time when some major artist committees are disbanding for fear of lawsuits over authentication practices, and increased reliance on studio practices has challenged the notion of the singular, “authentic” work of art, standard practices of authenticity in contemporary art are increasingly under fire.  Issues of market value, versions, and lack of knowledge challenge ideas of validity, and pose interesting questions into the value of the art object.

(more…)

A painting found in the collection of the Bowes Museum in the U.K. city of Durham, has been confirmed as an original work of Sir Anthony Van Dyck.  The work, a portrait of Lady Olivia Boteler Porter, was thought to be a 19th century copy after Van Dyck until recent examinations proved it as an original.  “To find a portrait by Van Dyck is rare enough, but to find one of his ‘friendship’ portraits like this, of the wife of his best friend in England, is extraordinarily lucky. Although as part of our national heritage values are irrelevant, for insurance purposes it should now be valued at anything up to £1m.” Said Dr. Bendor Grosvenor, an art historian and presenter. (more…)

In the last several months, the heirs of Pablo Picasso have taken steps to consolidate the process for authenticating the late artist’s works, creating a family board responsible for authenticating all Picasso works moving forward.  “People have been asking why they have to go to two places just to have a work authenticated. That is why we took the decision of sending that letter to the art world. The family board is the only authority—it’s quite clear”  says Picasso’s son Bernard. (more…)

A Roy Lichtenstein painting, missing for 42 years has been returned to its owner by Federal authorities.  Barbara Castelli’s late husband, Leo Castelli, had purchased the painting in the 1960s for $750; it is now valued at $4 million. The piece was sent to be cleaned in 1971 and remained there unnoticed until the restorer’s widow said the the employee who had kept track of the painting asked her to find a buyer for him. She found a buyer in Colombia, not knowing it was stolen. When the buyer contacted the Lichtenstein Foundation to authenticate the work, the Foundation contacted Castelli, who alerted the FBI. (more…)

Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, Pablo Picasso’s grandson, announced that the Picasso heirs have consolidated authentication efforts in the formation of an organization under the direction of Claude Ruiz-Picasso. Previously, due to the large number of Picasso’s heirs, authentication was difficult. The Picasso Administration is based in Paris. (more…)