Congress Program 2018
„This conference is unique in the world of art authentication. Uniting all different disciplines in one room, that’s the key to authenticating art,
and that’s the key to understanding the importance of AiA“
Dr Friederike Gräfin von Brühl – Lawyer at K&L Gates LLP, Berlin
– Keywords AiA 2018 –
Connoisseurship – Technical Art History – Material Science – Art & Law – TAHDa – Artificial Intelligence
Case Studies: Leonardo – Van Gogh – Modigliani – Rubens – Van Dyck – Jordaens – Frans Hals – Manet
| THURSDAY JUNE 7 | |
| 09:00 | Registration at the Authentication in Art hospitality desk |
| 09:30 | Kees Jansen – Opening speech – There are remarkable similarities between falsifications in the art world and the vintage car world in general and specifically Bugatti. The most important parties in the art world, the seller and the buyer, have the same interests: they both want an art object to be genuine. Forgers find out along the way there is easy money to be made with faking by jumping into flaws of the system. Many buyers are often wealthy individuals who do not hesitate to sue anybody who claims their cars are replicas. Because of the lack of research protocols, transparency and knowledge sharing this leads to long running lawsuits. This presentation will focus on these remarkable similarities between the different fields in the art world. We will not be able to prevent people from building replica Bugatti's but we can identify these cars at early stage. That formed the basis of the Bugatti Registry Database |
| 10:00 | Coffee & Tea |
| 10:30 | Prof Dr Maurizio Seracini – Keynote speech – ART AUTHENTICATION calls for a new breed of investigative scientists – The world of the art market is shaken by an ever-growing number of fakes and forgeries. Works of art are sold for of millions of dollars without any scientific verification of their authenticity. A big international trade of looted cultural heritage artifacts, sold in exchange for drugs and weapons, is spreading. These issues will be addressed during the presentation together with some proposed solutions, such as the creation of a new professional figure of field scientist to investigate looted or allegedly fake and/or forged art works and of centers for research and development of complete arrays of portable equipment and mobile laboratories to be fast deployed on site worldwide. Finally, the role and limitations of “Attribution” as the main reference to sell a work of art will be addressed, as well as the revolutionary challenge that Artificial Intelligence will soon bring to art historians and to the art market |
| 11:30 | Azmina Jasani – Copyright Law and Art: U.S. and European approach to originality and protection. This presentation will explore copyright issues that impact the creators, traders and consumers of art, while touching upon the seminal differences in protection under U.S. and European law. More specifically, the speaker will explore the differences in legislation between countries who are signatories of the Bern Convention; explain how consumers can safely enjoy art in museums while using technology; examine the defences, including limits, of copyright exemptions related to academic and scientific uses; clarify the concept of originality and its evolving meaning; and finally touch upon how artists and their estates can enforce their copyright and protect the artist’s legacy |
| 12:10 | Dr Josef Uher – Material resolving X-ray imaging of art – X-ray imaging is a well-established tool within the portfolio of art non-destructive inspection methods. A new generation of photon counting X-ray imaging detectors pushes the image quality way beyond the current technologies. The new X-ray imaging detectors have array of “clever” pixels. Each pixel contains electronics capable of processing every detected photon measuring its wavelength. Therefore, it acquires “color” X-ray images where colors are associated with different materials identified in the image. All with spatial resolution of less than 55 µm. The modern cutting edge X-ray imaging detectors therefore enable new methods such as X-ray spectral imaging (XRSI), material resolved X-ray imaging and X-ray “color” imaging (XRCI). The technology extends the portfolio of physics methods used in art inspection. X-ray imaging scanner systems for art are developed by InsightART company. The next generation of these scanners is even based on robotic arms enabling unprecedented flexibility in X-ray viewing angles extending the range of scanned art pieces from paintings to general antique. An overview of the technology possibilities will be given together with examples of measured samples |
| 12:50 | Lunch |
| 13:50 | Annika Erikson – Articheck: The future of conservation reports – This presentation will look at how digital condition reporting can help with the authentication of a work from a condition perspective. Forensic analysis and condition observations recorded through our standardised digital system helps build a provenance and movement of the artwork adding gravitas to the works authenticity. Being able to quickly and easily review previous condition checks on a work with a click of a button helps to minimise fraudulent work infiltrating the market |
| 14:30 | Dr Maurizio Vretenar – Transportable particle accelerators for PIXE analysis – The rapid development of particle accelerators and their transition from scientific laboratories to new environments as hospitals, industries, museums, etc. is opening new perspectives and potential applications well beyond scientific research. In the field of art analysis, compact accelerators combine the high resolution of a focused beam with the potential of atomic effects as production of X-rays. In the field of X-ray spectrometry, they can provide a sensitivity higher by orders of magnitude than conventional X-ray fluorescence. A transportable system based on a 1-m long proton accelerator is being developed in a collaboration between CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, and the Italian Institute of Nuclear Physics |
| 15:10 | Dr Kenneth Wayne – Exciting Developments in the Modigliani Field – Since 1920, when Modigliani died, his field has been plagued by a major problem: fakes. This talk will explain how the problem emerged and why it has continued until today. We will then hear how the Modigliani Project of New York is actively working to address the issue with regard to his paintings. Dr. Wayne is confident that the problem will be eliminated by 2020, the centennial of the artist’s passing |
| 15:50 | Coffee/Tea |
| 16:10 | Prof Dr Roger Lewis – Terahertz Spectroscopy – Terahertz technology opens up new ways of seeing the world. Terahertz frequencies are higher than microwave and lower than infrared. Thus the terahertz region is said to lie in a gap in the electromagnetic spectrum between electronics and photonics. Recent advances in terahertz science are bridging that gap. In brief, metals reflect terahertz radiation, water and glass absorb it strongly, and materials such as canvas and timber transmit it. Thus, terahertz radiation provides a different view of artist’s materials than is provided by visible light or by other means. The terahertz examination is non-contact and non-destructive. Terahertz radiation tends to undergo little scattering and thus have a large penetration depth in conventional paintings, providing information about the varnish, painting layer, under layers and canvas. Thus, terahertz techniques prove to be a useful addition to the more conventional spectroscopies applied to art authentication, such as X-rays, ultraviolet, Raman and infrared. Moreover, terahertz spectroscopy reveals characteristic spectral features which may be put to use as ‘signatures’ or ‘fingerprints’ of specific pigments |
| 16:50 | Dr Margaret Dalivalle – ‘Armchair experts’: Performative connoisseurship in popular media platforms – From its inception in the seventeenth century, the practice of connoisseurship has incorporated an element of performance and gamesmanship. Today, the connoisseur remains a figure of contention but also fascination, sustained and celebrated in popular media. Articulating two eternally mesmerising narratives: the detection of forgery, and the discovery of treasure, television programmes such as Antiques Roadshow, Fake or Fortune, and Quizeum (all BBC) are structured around the performative mode of connoisseurship. Popular media stages connoisseurship, codifying its methodologies and conclusions to fit the requirements – and attention span - of a generalised audience. The traditional, and controversial, exclusivity of connoisseurship has been substituted for inclusivity, and the connoisseur enacts his expertise through the pane of the LCD screen. Combative connoisseurship slugs it out in online blogs and Twitter feeds such as Grumpy Art Historian and Art History News, and the news media regularly reports on high profile court cases concerning connoisseurship, discoveries of Old Masters, and art fraud. Nowadays, everyone is invited to become an ‘armchair expert’, but how will this phenomenon impact more significant theatres of connoisseurship – the museum, the auction room, the law court, the academy? Exactly what is the public understanding of connoisseurship? |
| 17:30-20:30 | Reception followed by festive dinner for all attendees at the Louwman Museum |
| Friday June 8 | |
| 09:00 | Registration Coffee & Tea |
| 09:30 | Presentation Guidelines and App Workgroup Technical Art History – The Workgroup Technical Art History presents: Technical Art History: A Handbook of Scientific Techniques for the Examination of Art Works. This work contains information about 50 techniques, their applications, limitations and history, which are all presented in a concise way to be used as reference for the experts and scientist alike. The AiA workgroup members Techical Art History are Dr Jennifer Mass, Dr Daniela Pinna, Lawrence M. Shindell, Prof Dr Robyn Sloggett, Oliver Spapens and Milko den Leeuw |
| 10.10 | Daniel Fabian – Tracing the source: lead isotope research on Rubens, Van Dyck and Jordaens – Lead white is one of the first artificially produced colours and has been used as an artist’s pigment since antiquity. Its data represents a traceable fingerprint. It has been possible for some years to identify trace elements contained in the lead white and to categorize the different lead isotopes. These variations can be linked to particular locations and time periods, which direct us to the original sources of lead ores.The presentation focuses on data gathered from northern and southern schools of the 17th c. with particular emphasis on the artist P. P. Rubens and contemporaries. The analysis gained from pigment samples is compared to samples taken from the important mining sources of lead ores of the time. The core of the research is an ever growing data base of important works of art of well-known paintings. This data can be used for further investigation and comparison with a unknown or doubtful source |
| 10:50 | Coffee & Tea |
| 11:10 | Dr Anna Tummers – Researching Frans Hals (1582/83-1666): Challenges and New Perspectives – Frans Hals has been the focal point of quite a few attribution controversies. The recent lawsuits in England and France underscore the need to reflect on the criteria used in the process. Anna Tummers heads a NWO research project, which investigates these criteria as well as a number of new techniques, including MA-XRF, hyperspectral imaging and lead isotope analysis. She will share some of the team’s initial findings |
| 11:50 | Prof em Dr Eltjo Schrage – Comparative Art Law – There are several explanations, why common law and civil law are so different. These explanations are mainly of a historical, and to a large extent: theoretical nature. The practical consequences of these differences, however, are enormous. We will mention a few examples and discuss them. The first instance will be the regulation of limitation and prescription both in Common law and Civil law and its consequences for the restitution of looted art. The second example will be the (mainly unknown) decision of the 's Hertogenbosch Court of Appeal, dated June 6, 2017, in the case between Renaissance Art Investors LLC against Galleria Cesati, a direct sequel of Lawrence Salander's fraud as the president of the Salander-O'Reilly Galleries. According to a bill dated February 7, 2005 Cesati acquired a Madonna form a seller, who had in his turn bought it at auction in London. On March 26, 2009, Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau issued a press release in which he announce the arrest of Salander, stating (i.a.), that "Salander also intentionally withheld from RAI the reporting of millions of dollars in sales of Rai artworks after the closing of the deal and failed to turn over the proceeds from the sale." Rai reclaimes the Madonna from Cesati and founds its claim on conversion; Cesati raises the defence of bona fide acquisition. Quaeritur quid iuris |
| 12:30 | Dr Teio Meedendorp – Vincent van Gogh: authenticity issues regarding the works on paper – Since the last edition of De la Faille’s catalogue raisonné of Van Gogh’s oeuvre in 1970, more drawings than paintings were added to the artist’s corpus, although the margin is small: nine against seven. Newly discovered paintings, however, appeal more to the general public and usually gather more attention. The same can be said about debates concerning rightly or wrongly attributed works, although the dismissal of the authenticity of the so-called ‘lost Arles sketchbook’ by the Van Gogh Museum in 2016 did not go unnoticed. As with Van Gogh’s paintings, difficulties in attributing works on paper are more typical for his early career, when his skills at drawing were still developing. The stylistic differences between his sketches, finished drawings as well as the copies he made, can be rather diverse, as will be shown. A lot of this early work has disappeared, so the frame of reference is sometimes limited. The presentation will include recent and former discoveries and de-attributions, also from Van Gogh’s later period, one of them touching upon a question that seems never to have been asked: ‘Besides the many forged paintings Otto Wacker handled around 1928, weren’t there any drawings? |
| 13:10 | Lunch |
| 14:10 | Prof Dr Bert Demarsin – Authenticity and liability of art experts and dealers – In his presentation, Prof. Demarsin discusses the liability risks art experts and dealers face when authenticating works of art. Based on an analysis of recent case law stemming from a wide variety of jurisdictions, he will question certain practices that are common among experts and authenticators and offer some advice on how to avoid liability |
| 14:50 | Oliver Spapens – The Plough 1918 - 2018 Forgery Case – www.ploughinart.org – The Plough is an art group deriving from the rural province of Groningen, The Netherlands. Their work has been extensively forged over the last three decades. These forgeries have led to the longest running forgery court case in art history, spanning over 25 years. This presentation will focus on the impact forgeries have on smaller artists and artists groups, as well as on how these forgeries can be combatted and prevented in the future |
| 15:30 | Coffee & Tea |
| 16.00 | Presentation on the AiA/NAI Court of Arbitration for Art (CAfA) by the Workgroup Art & Law – The Workgroup Art & Law presents its work on CAfA. During the presentation the workgroup will discuss the impact of CAfA, its functioning, its supposed role in the art world, as well as their work on amending the Rules of Procedure. The AiA workgroup members Art & Law are Dr Friederike Gräfin von Brühl, William Charron, Shawn Conway, Luke Nikas, Megan Noh, Judith Prowda and Nicolla Wallace |
| 17:20 | Launch AiA/NAI Court of Arbitration for Art (CAfA) |
| 17:30 | Festive Reception |
| Saturday June 9 | |
| 09:30 | Registration at the Authentication in Art hospitality desk |
| 10:00 | Dr Jane Henderson – Common Standards and Protocols – If universal principles of conservation are to be discussed effectively, a common understanding of standards should be established. The talk will discuss the profession’s understanding of standards, both in their terminology and the meaning that they confer. Clear definitions of standards do exist but whether the term confers the same meaning to different people is questionable. The presentation will review the development of standards identifying the relationship between the origin of a standard and its resultant approach. A vocabulary to describe and categorise standards will be offered using pairs of keywords to describe their distinctive features. This method will be illustrated with examples of standards commonly used in the UK. The paper will consider the relationship of the development of standards to the outcome desired and will flag strengths and weaknesses of different approaches. This clarity offers an opportunity to broaden our appreciation of the role of standards and thus increase their impact. The process of understanding standards and describing them precisely enhances efficiency through improved communication |
| 10:40 | Dr Ir Harmen de Jongh – www.tahda.org – This is the introduction to TAHDa. TAHDa stands for Technical Art History Database. TAHDa is a research management system developed for catalogue raisonné committees, artist estate managers, art historians, scientists, conservators, collectors, and traders. Currently, no other IT-system is capable of reading, combining, and cross-correlating written text, images, technical specifications and analyses, nor of disclosing other databases made with different software and leaving existing data in place |
| 11:10 | Coffee & Tea |
| 11:40 | Dr Ahmed Elgammal – Artificial Intelligence for Art Recognition – www.e-manet.org – This talk will introduce AI tools for art recognition at the macro level and micro level. At the macro level, we introduce the Art API (ArtPI), the first public API designed and optimized for art. ArtPI uses AI and deep learning models trained on over 1 Million images of art. ArtPI provides the ability to recognize and predict the artist, style, subject, as well as assessing the formal elements of art. ArtPI allows users to search their own collections or search a large collection of artworks in major museums available in the public domain. At the micro level, the talk introduces advances on art authentication at the brush level. This technology is based on the concept of Pictology and provides a quantifiable scientific way to approach the traditional stylistic analysis at the visual spectrum level |
| 12:20 | Plenary Session Technical Art History Database (TAHDa) |
| 13:00 | Lunch |
