PROVENANCE & LOCATING MY MISSING PAINTINGS AND ANY OTHER ARTWORKS BY ME. 

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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