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How To Safely Navigate The Art Market: The Catalogue Raisonné

January 31, 2019

How to safely navigate the art marketSince I touched on expertise last month, I thought it would be appropriate to follow-up with an article about Catalogue Raisonnés (C.R.). I have used this term many times in my career, and occasionally someone stops me to ask — what exactly is a Catalogue Raisonné?  To begin with, the words are French and Wikipedia describes it as “a comprehensive, annotated listing of all the known artworks by an artist either in a particular medium or all media. The works are described in such a way that they may be reliably identified by third parties.”

Now that you know the technical definition let’s tell you what it is all about.  A catalogue raisonné is a book that is written by the artist’s leading expert/experts, with the aim of listing all of the works that the chosen artist has created.  These projects usually contain photographs of the works, along with as much documentation as possible — size, medium, provenance, signature location, date, inscriptions, labels that may appear on the reverse, exhibition history, and some go as far as including the work’s condition – something I personally think should only be noted if the painting has been drastically altered because of the restoration; otherwise this is far too subjective.  I can tell you that while an expert might have a good handle on authenticity, some are far from experts on condition.

A Catalogue Raisonné will include an essay on the life and work of the artist as well as examples of their signatures, listings of museums and public collections where works can be found, and additional publications where the artist is mentioned.  Much of this information needs to be gathered from old books, reviews, letters, diaries, account books, legal documents, dealer records, etc. – just finding all of this material takes an enormous amount of time.  Even after much of the documentation is found, translated (if need be), and compiled, there are often large gaps left in the life of many artists – some of which may never be filled in.

The end result is a publication (either printed or online) that will then be considered the ‘bible’ of that artist’s work. Future buyers, sellers, and researchers will have the ability to search the catalogue and see if a specific work is listed … if it is, then they are pretty confident it has been vetted and generally believed to be genuine – at least in the opinion of the individual, or committee, that conducted the research.

While the ultimate goal of these projects is to list every work the artist created, that is rarely possible as some works have been lost, destroyed, or will remain unaccounted for.  Remember that not every current owner knows exactly what they have, and some may never know about the project … it is only when they decide to sell that they may learn about the C.R.

One interesting result of a C.R. being published is that many more works begin to surface.  This then sets the experts on a course to start a second volume (if it was done in book form).  This new volume gives them the opportunity to update or correct any of the information in the original volume.  The nice thing about an online version is that corrections and additions can be made immediately – this way, the C.R. is always up-to-date.  Remember, no matter how careful an expert is, mistakes will be made.

So, I am sure you want to know: how is a work accepted into a C.R.?  Usually, the expert/experts have forms that need to be filled out, image requirements, fees (these normally range from $500-$2,000, but there are exceptions), and some require that every work is physically examined (this can be an expensive undertaking).  If, after all the research is completed, an expert feels the work (in their opinion) is authentic then they will usually supply the owner with a letter (or photo-certificate) stating that they will be including it in their research project.  On the other hand, if they do not feel the piece is authentic, some will send you a letter stating that, and others will not.  Today, there are many artists whose works cannot be sold without being authenticated by a specific individual or committee.

As I am sure you can surmise, these projects are challenging at best.  Just trying to locate the works and then obtain reproduction quality photographs is a time consuming and, at times, an almost impossible task.  Not everyone is willing to have their works properly photographed, and some just do not want to take the time to do it.  This is only one of the many hurdles that need to be overcome.

I know your next question – this is all well and good, but how long does it take to research and produce a catalogue raisonné?  The time frame usually given is about 15 years, but some projects, dealing with more obscure artists can go on for 20 years or more. However, in the end, these publications are one of the best ways for individual buyers, collectors, and dealers to be sure that the work they are looking at is genuine.

Our gallery is currently researching the lives of Julien Dupré, Daniel Ridgway Knight, Emile Munier, and Antoine Blanchard for their respective Catalogue Raisonnés.  Both the Munier and Blanchard projects began online and will continue that way.  Initially, the Dupre and Ridgway Knight projects were slated to be published in book form; however, we have now decided that these will also become online projects. This will allow everyone easy access to the information and give us the flexibility to continually update and change information as our research continues and new works appear.

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