While US artists’ foundations shun the task of authenticating works of art to avoid expensive lawsuits, their European counterparts see it as an important aspect of protecting an artist’s legacy, a Berlin conference has heard.
Claudia Andrieu, the legal adviser to the Picasso Administration, said that authentication has a “vital protective function” and yields information about forgeries. Last year, the foundation received 1,000 authentication requests, of which only around 5% involved genuine Picassos. She said that it will sue if there is any attempt to pass off an unauthenticated work as genuine.
Dietmar Elger, the head of the Gerhard Richter Archive in Dresden, said it issues authentication certificates and charges a €400 fee. Elger said the documentation is not strictly necessary because Richter is still alive and his work is meticulously catalogued and rarely forged, but collectors like the added security.
Among the US speakers at the conference, organised by the Berlin-based Institute for Artists’ Estates, was Christy MacLear, the chief executive of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation. She said that the foundation has never authenticated works and never will. Flavin Judd, the co-president of the Judd Foundation, said: “You can’t do it in the US.” His foundation shares information and keeps a numbered inventory of Judd’s works.
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Keith Haring Foundation, among others, stopped authenticating works because of the risk of hugely expensive lawsuits.