DAVID POYSER MISSING ARTWORKS
(See also below section on Returned Artworks)
MISSING ARTWORKS:
A significan number of artworks created by me are missing / lost / stolen / misplaced, given away by people who do not own them, or their whereabouts are unknown to me.
See examples below and next page. If anyone knows their location and possessor, please contact me with details.
In particular, numerous artworks disappeared in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1981, from my then flat in a suburb of the city called Sandyford. People who knew me at that time may have heard about them. If they know anything, I ask them to come forward with any information that may lead to their recovery.
THIS RELATES TO THE PROVENANCE OF MY PAINTINGS AND ANY OTHER ARTWORKS BY ME.
See further information below. David Poyser.
Example: see more on next page - to be added.
Above example, which is a separate matter to the missing artworks from my flat in Sandyford, Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1981.
This is a 1978 photograph of me, David Poyser, at Newcastle University. The two large paintings behind me both went missing in 1981 at the university Fine Art department. They were exhibited in 1980 at the university's Hatton Gallery as part of my MFA degree final show, photographed on original 35mm slide transparency colour film and in my possession. Personal circumstances led to my losing contact with them in 1981. I visited the university some years later to look for them, and others,, but found nothing. The painting on the left was originally painted in early 1974 when I was a DipAD art student at Loughborough College of Art 1971-74. I reworked it at Newcastle in 1978 and it was selected for exhibition at the 1979 Northern Young Contemporaries, held at Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester. It is possible that the two paintings, and more, languish somewhere in the Hatton Gallery vaults. Or sadly, it may be that students took them and painted on the backs of them. If that happened, then they, and others of mine, actually exist on the reverse sides of other people's paintings. That actually happened to my certain knowledge to a different large painting of mine at Loughborough College of Art in 1974, so I know from personal experience that it can happen. Colours on the left-side painting are pink and yellow ochre light brown, with black lines. Colours on the right-side painting are mostly pink, with a little red., and with black lines. See the following page for information about other paintings.
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PROVENANCE & LOCATING MY MISSING PAINTINGS AND ANY OTHER ARTWORKS BY ME.
It is important to record the chronological history of who owned or possessed my paintings, detailing the chain of custody from the artist's studio through to its current location and owner / possessor.
The paintings must be verified by me as being painted by me. A signature alone does not gaurantee authentication because it can be forged. Paintings can also be copied, and made in the style of an artist (which actually happened to me).
Therefore, there must be a clear chain leading back to me and I must authenticate the work - or in the future an artworld expert must authenticate the work, which may be difficult to prove without my knowledge.
I reserve the right to disown any painting that fails this test of Provenance. Without Provenance, a painting has no value. Further, I reserve the right to refuse to sign any painting or other artwork, and to refuse to authenticate any painting or other artwork for any reason. I am not required to authenticate any such work.
Note that the artist retains Copyright, including rights to their signature, and rights over authentication, which do affect Secondary sales of artworks - eg at auction. The artist owns the Copyright and signature and they have the legal right to refuse authentification. A living artist has the right to charge a fee to authenticate and sign an artwork. In addition, an artist's Estate also has the right to authenticate an artist's artwork and signature and can refuse to do so.
See more information on the Provenance page and Art and the Law page, on this site.
See next page for more missing artwork - to be added.
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RETURNED ARTWORKS:
In the mid 1970s I gave away three medium-size paintings to friends living in my village in North Yorkshire, and then we each went our separate ways and had no contact. Then forty-one years later after my last seeing them in 1977, I received an email from them via my art website. They had relocated to another country. They said they had two of my paintings and wanted to give them back to me, saying they had enjoyed them for all those years and that they now wanted me to have them back. I was pleased to accept their generous offer. They duly courier-despatched them to me at their own cost.
They didn't know about the third painting, and that remains a mystery as a Missing Artwork. That painting was a landscape oil on canvas approximately 40x44 inches, subject a river bank with trees, river, and reflections, mainly in greys and blacks with some colour details - a striking painting, which I have a 35mm colour slide transparency of.
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David Poyser artist