Guide - Provenance of the Artwork

Guide - Provenance of an Artwork

Often in an online listing we see references of provenance or names of individuals who had purchased it before us.

What does provenance do for the art? What value does it add?

In my opinion (which is quite obviously not a mainstream opinion) the previous owner of art is as inconsequential to the real value of the art.

(Again here we can branch off into another discussion about the 'Value' of art)

The fact that a celebrity or celebrity collector owned it before me

is not going to make it more beautiful to me.

The only two things that really matter are

a) my rational personal judgement of the artwork - for which I need to build confidence by educating myself 

b) my irrational attraction to it.

If I do seek third-party endorsement it would be from those who  have seen hundreds of that items pass through their hands - and that too, only to the extent that they are in a position to point out features that I might not notice.

On the other hand if it belonged to the estate of celebrity or singer XYZ it would not matter at all. In fact it might be counterproductive as I would be worried of the unwarranted escalation in prices.

Instead of provenance of ownership, I would love it if we could be told the names of the artists who created that beauty! But in the case of folk art especially those pieces created a long time ago, these details are lost forever.

But my opinion is not important. The fact is that artworks linked to big-name previous owners do command an higher premium in dollars.

And until we can come up with a alternate uniform code of valuation that is simple enough, the dollar reigns as indicator of value. 

 

 

 

 

If you would like to stay informed about notes & guides I publish

JOIN OUR ART LOVER / SUBSCRIBER GROUP NOW

***