Christie's New York: March 29, 2012

That is the question our panel will addressed on March 29 from 6 to 8pm at Christie's in New York. Prompted by the recent decisions by several artists' foundations to cease offering ongoing opinions on authenticity, the Catalogue Raisonné Scholars Association brought together scholars, legal experts, and representatives of the art market to discuss the pros and cons of authentication by catalogue raisonné scholars and committees. The topics covered included 1) the different situations–if any–of artists foundations vs. catalogues raisonnés sponsored by other entities; 2) decisions by catalogue raisonné scholars to defer opinions until publication or to issue opinions on an ongoing basis; 3) issues of scholars continuing to offer opinions after publication to keep catalogues raisonnés current; 4) the alternative of working with an authentication agency, such as IFAR, to avoid legal vulnerability. The panel will be hosted by Christie's under their kind sponsorship and will be free to the public.

Panelists:
Moderator: Nancy Mowll Mathews, CRSA
Barbara Buhler Lynes, Georgia O'Keeffe Museum
Carolyn Somers, Joan Mitchell Foundation
Richard Grant, Richard Diebenkorn Foundation
Peter Stern, McLaughlin & Stern, LLP
Charles Moffett, Sotheby's
Michael Findlay, Acquavella Galleries
Sharon Flescher, International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR)
Jack Flam, Dedalus Foundation