Over the years, I have written several articles about the need for more care in certain auction rooms regarding the authenticity of the paintings they sell. All of them use similar language in their terms and conditions; below are examples from three different auction rooms:
1. While [Name deleted] representatives, to the best of their ability, describe the items for sale, any statement, whether oral or written, by the Auctioneer or by any [Name deleted] representative are mere opinions and shall not be deemed a warranty or representation regarding the property offered for sale.
2. All items are sold as-is and where-is. [Name deleted] disclaims any express or implied warranties or guarantees as to the authenticity, condition, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, correctness of the catalog or supplemental material, or other description of the physical condition, size, quality, rarity, importance, medium, provenance, exhibitions, literature or historical relevance of any property. No statement made anywhere, by us, our employees, officers, or agents, whether written or verbal, shall be deemed such a warranty or assumption of liability.
3. All properties are sold as is, and neither we nor the consignor make any warranties or representations with respect to any lot sold including but not limited to the correctness of the catalogue description, the physical condition, size, quality, rarity, attribution, authorship, importance, medium, provenance, exhibitions, literature or historical relevance of the property, and no statement anywhere, whether oral or written, shall be deemed such a warranty or representation.
Basically, they are not responsible for the authenticity of anything they sell – Caveat Emptor (Let the buyer beware).
Today, there are many online auction marketplaces which give auction rooms the ability to post their sales, enabling them to reach a wider audience. These sites also allow people to bid on the platform, and for that convenience, an additional fee is added to the auction house’s buyer’s premium. Potential buyers can search for a particular artist and these sites will compile a page with all the upcoming lots attributed to a particular artist. By doing so, they mix works offered at auction houses that do their due diligence alongside works offered by those that only sometimes verify the items they sell.
Of course, serious collectors understand that with reputable auction houses, there is a sense of security since their specialists often research the items offered and verify their authorship and provenance. But for those who may not understand that not all auction houses and galleries are the same, buyers looking for a nice oil painting will often fork over large sums of money for something that, with even the slightest bit of research, would be exposed as a fake.
Antoine Blanchard (1910 – 1988)
As many of you know, we specialize in the work of Antoine Blanchard [born Marcel Masson (1910 – 1988)], the renowned painter known for his exquisite Parisian street scenes. Every week, we receive emails about upcoming auctions featuring paintings by Blanchard. Sadly, a high percentage of them are not authentic.
Recently, I decided to research one of these online auction platforms and looked for works by Antoine Blanchard. I filtered the results for those offered during the first nine months of 2024, leaving me with 107 works. After going through each of them, I found that of the 107 Blanchard works, only 39 were authentic, with the highest price achieved being $14,375 for a 13“ x 18″. Inauthentic works totaled 37, with the highest price being $10,000 for a 24“ x 36″. 10 paintings were merely attributed to Blanchard, 20 were prints, and one was sold as a Blanchard Jr. (still wondering who that is).
Removing the Attributed, Prints, and Jr. works leaves us with 76 paintings offered as being by Antoine Blanchard. This means over 48% of the listed paintings had questionable authenticity. It is truly ridiculous! The sad part is that these auction rooms could have contacted us for an opinion, which could have greatly reduced the number of ‘fake‘ works offered and helped strengthen the market. To be clear, this is not a problem unique to Blanchard; this is the industry norm.
We began a research project focused on Antoine Blanchard’s life and work in 2007. Our goal was and still is to help ‘clean up‘ the market, and allow buyers and sellers to know whether or not they are looking at authentic paintings by the artist. Our research enabled us to create the Antoine Blanchard Catalogue Raisonné, and we are now regarded as the experts. It’s worth mentioning that when we started the project, between 80 and 90% of the paintings up at auction had questionable authenticity. So, that 50% figure leads me to think we are making progress!
It is important to remember that I am only talking about Antoine Blanchard’s paintings. Imagine how many other ‘fake‘ works are regularly offered for sale at auction. Well, maybe you don’t want to imagine that!
Now, the question is: should these organizations be required to perform their due diligence and uphold the standard of quality maintained by more reputable organizations? Though the art market is known for its lack of regulation, mostly for privacy reasons, should laws and industry regulations be enacted to ensure that companies that sell art, like auction houses and galleries, provide the information necessary for buyers to make an informed decision about their purchase?
In the meantime, until such laws are passed, buyers must keep the following in mind: if you are going to travel through the art world jungle, find the right guide before you become someone’s next meal. When buying from established and reputable galleries, you have the comfort of knowing that they have done their research regarding a work’s authenticity. You can also be confident that you are buying high-quality works in great condition, from the artist’s best periods, and are truly ready to hang (have been cleaned, framed, etc.).
PS—Just before posting this article, I returned to the same online site and searched for upcoming works by Blanchard. Three came up: one listed as “After Antoine Blanchard,” and the other two made me laugh!