Past Event

December 14, 2001

Catalogues Raisonnés and the Authentication Process: Where the Ivory Tower Meets the Marketplace

Catalogues raisonnés are crucial research tools affecting the scholarly, commercial, institutional, and collecting art worlds. They are plagued, however, by controversy over who should produce them; who should fund them; what standards should be applied to avoid the perception of arbitrary decision-making or conflicts of interest; and what protection can be afforded the scholars involved from lawsuits stemming from the rendering of their opinions. This conference focused on the processes, standards, and challenges of catalogues raisonnés. It also addressed the broader authentication process. Designed to be educational, not polemical, it provided a forum for those involved in the process to exchange information, while it facilitated a dialogue between producers and users of catalogues raisonnés.

TOPICS

– Right or Wrong; Real or Fake: Who Cares?
– Procedures and Process
– Who Judges the Experts?
– Legal Liability for Giving Opinions
– Insurance Options
– Getting Published; At What Cost?
– Ethics and Potential Conflicts of Interest
– Post-Research: Dealing with the Field

Copies of the conference resource packet are available to non-attendees.

Packet Includes:

– Articles relating to catalogues raisonnés
– Legal articles relating to: Droit Morale; Authenticationand the Liability of Scholars Giving Opinions
– Sample authentication data sheets and waiver forms

To place an order, please see our Resource Packets page.


IFAR gratefully acknowledges the following for their grants toward support of this conference:

Samuel H. Kress Foundation
Roy Lichtenstein Foundation

Event Speaker(s)

Paul Anbinder, Editor and Publisher, Hudson Hills Press


Vivian Endicott Barnett, Author, Kandinsky Watercolours: Catalogue Raisonné 1900-1921 and 1922-1944


Jack Cowart, Executive Director, Roy Lichtenstein Foundation


Sarah Faunce, Director, Courbet Catalogue Raisonné Project


Theodore H. Feder, President, Artists Rights Society, Inc. (ARS)


Michael Findlay, Director, Acquavella Galleries


Sharon Flescher, Executive Director, International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR)


Grace Glueck, Art Critic, The New York Times


Theodore N. Kaplan, esq., Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP


Gail Levin, Prof. of Art History, Baruch College and The Graduate Center, CUNY; Author, Edward Hopper: A Catalogue Raisonné


Steven Mark Levy, esq., Lewis, D'Amato, Brisbois & Bisgaard LLP


Barbara Buhler Lynes, Curator, The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum; Author, Georgia O'Keeffe Catalogue Raisonné


Nancy Mowll Matthews, Eugénie Prendergast Curator, Williams College Museum of Art; President, Catalogue Raisonné Scholars Association


Neil Printz, Editor, The Isamu Noguchi Catalogue Raisonné; Co-editor, Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné: Volumes I-II


Van Kirk Reeves, esq., Porter & Reeves


Ellen Hoener Ross, Vice President, Acordia (Insurance Company)


Samuel Sachs II, Director, The Frick Collection


Ronald D. Spencer, esq., Carter, Ledyard and Milburn


Elaine Stainton, Sr. Editor; Director, Museum & Art Group, Harry N. Abrams, Inc.


Peter R. Stern, esq., Berger Stern & Webb, LLP Joyce Hill Stoner, Professor & Paintings Conservator, Winterthur/University of Delaware, Program in Art Conservation


Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr. Distinguished Fellow and Consultative Curator of American Paintings, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University


Peter C. Sutton, Exec. Director and CEO, Bruce Museum of Arts and Science; Author, Pieter de Hooch: Complete Edition with a Catalogue Raisonné


John Tancock, Sr. Vice President, Impressionist and Modern Paintings, Sotheby's


Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr., Curator, Northern Baroque Paintings, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C