My summer 2024 Arts Research Internship Award project focused on processes of authentication. Under the supervision of Professor Gwendolyn Owens, I examined three works of art in 91社区鈥檚 Visual Arts Collection. The aim of my project was to establish guidelines for art authentication while reviewing the terminology we use to present and explain works of art. As an Intern at the Visual Arts Collection, I also learned how to navigate our database, CollectionSpace, how to handle works of art, how to do condition reports, how to give tours, and how to write object labels. I am grateful to the Goodman Fund for making this incredible opportunity possible.
My first case study was Shaman Surrounded by Ancestral Spirit Totems, a painting formerly attributed to Norval Morrisseau. I familiarized myself with the artist鈥檚 oeuvre through interviews, biographies, exhibition catalogues, and scholarly publications. I then conducted a thorough visual analysis of our painting and identified several elements that were inconsistent with the artist鈥檚 unquestioned works. In my opinion, Shaman Surrounded by Ancestral Spirit Totems is not an authentic artwork by Morrisseau.
Next, I researched a faithful copy of Bartolom茅 Esteban Murillo鈥檚 Children Eating Grapes and a Melon. The original was painted between 1645 and 1646 and is held in Munich, Germany. Ironically, I spent less time looking at the front of the painting than the back, or rather, the stamps and stickers on the back. The canvas has a stamp from A. Schutzmann, a painting canvas manufactory founded in 1844 in Munich. The frame was constructed by Konrad Barth & Company, a gilding company founded in the late 19th century in Munich. The canvas has been cut and restretched, so the frame is probably not original. The painting was brought to Toronto by Mackenzie & Company between 1916 and 1924. I concluded that this copy was painted in Munich between 1844 and 1924, probably in the late 19th century.
Finally, I examined a painting of Mary Magdalene in prayer. In 1942, Isabella McLennan donated this work of art to 91社区. The painting was previously held by her father, Hugh McLennan, who acquired it no later than 1890. In 1910, W. Scott and Sons, a Montreal gallery, reframed the piece. Under ultraviolet light, significant overpainting is visible. The canvas has also been relined: glued onto a new canvas to strengthen the painting. Professor Owens reached out to two art historians who specialize in Renaissance art. Both agreed that our piece is probably Italian and painted in the 17th century. Research on this painting is far from complete.
After analysing these works of art and perusing publications on processes of authentication, I concluded that art authentication requires connoisseurship, scholarly documentation, and technical analysis. Connoisseurs consider form, an artist鈥檚 personal and distinct style, facture, the way an artist鈥檚 hand expresses their intention, and iconography, the subject matter of the artwork. Scholarly documentation includes provenance, the ownership history of an artwork, and archival and historical evidence. Technical analysis involves scientific testing and examination of materials. After researching an artwork, it is important to know what to call it. In my guidelines for processes of art authentication, I included a glossary of attribution qualifiers for artist names. This section defines terms such as 鈥減upil of鈥� and 鈥渕anner of鈥�.
The most exciting highlight of my summer was obtaining the agreed statements of facts from the trials of Gary Lamont and David Voss. Both led prolific Morrisseau fraud rings and recently pleaded guilty to counts of forgery. These documents contained images of all their fakes and forgeries known to the Ontario Provincial Police, nearly 1,700 items. After examining these images, I discovered that the abnormal elements in Shaman Surrounded by Ancestral Spirit Totems were common in Voss鈥檚 work.
My project鈥檚 most significant challenge was its scope. Authenticity is not a physical, aesthetic, or scientific absolute. In practice, it is rarely certain. My research could continue for years, and it was difficult to turn my attention from one artwork to another.
Throughout this internship, I have enjoyed applying the concepts I have studied in my courses to research outside the classroom. In consulting resources like phone book archives and legal documents, I have learned that important information can exist in many different sources. I am eager to implement the research strategies I have developed this summer in my future studies.
