Art authentication: An artist’s obligation

Should a living artist charge an authenticating fee for his own work?

This is a question being debated now in my small art circle after rumors began circulating that one artist who suddenly acquired international prominence is now charging owners of his paintings a 10-percent authentication fee for a piece of paper that will prove his artwork as genuine.

For delicadeza, I will not name the artist. Suffice it to say that he is a painter who was thrust into the limelight last year after winning a major portrait-making contest in the United States.

In fairness, the painter, who hails from the south, is really good at what he does. In fact, I consider him to be one of the best romantic realists in the Philippines. I doff my hat to him for making our country proud.

But I have to give my two-cents’ worth on his alleged practice of charging his fans for authentication of works that he himself sold to them. He reportedly demands 10 percent of the present market value of the paintings from those who want to get his authentication. This is a practice I consider unethical and a sign of greediness.

I don’t object to artists putting exorbitant sticker prices on their work. That’s their prerogative. They can price themselves out of the market, for all I care. But making a buyer pay again to get authentication for an artwork that he or she had bought from the same living artist is tantamount to double jeopardy. The buyer has already paid for the painting, and he or she may have done so in the presence of the artist himself. Now why should he or she be required by the same artist to pay again just to have the artwork authenticated?

Art authentication, in my humble opinion, should be a fundamental duty of an artist while he is still alive. He must never charge for it, especially for the work that he sold early in his career. Doing so is like biting the hand that once fed him, the hand that once nurtured him when he was still a struggling beginner.

It’s a different matter altogether when the artist is no longer alive. In cases like this, a third party – either an individual or a group – usually gets hold of the painting, studies it thoroughly, compares it with other works of the artist, and comes up with a certificate stating that the work is authentic. There is work and even high-tech gadgetry entailed in this type of authentication. And normally, in the United States, this kind of authentication is worth thousands of dollars especially if it involves an artwork of a master like Rembrandt.

Yet in the Philippines, it may not be that expensive to have a priceless work of art done by a Filipino authenticated. I know of some relatives and family members of deposed artists who usually do not charge owners of the artist’s work when they are asked for authentication. For them, authenticating the work of their grandfather, father, or mother is their way of paying tribute to them, their way of giving honor to the artist(s) they once knew, and not a means for enrichment, and certainly not for profit.

For these people, there are still some things that money can’t buy.