Roughly twenty years ago I visited a museum with a New York art dealer friend who pointed out 2 paintings in one room of the museum that were fakes. After quizzing him about his reasoning process, I called the museum’s curator the next day to acquaint them with my friend’s observations. Her comment was stunning, but in some ways understandable.
“We don’t have enough staff or time to thoroughly research artworks on loan. Once they are officially gifted, then we can justify the time and effort to verify authorship”.
This may be true for other museums, certainly not all, but it does give one reason to pause. Don’t assume all art presented in an art institution is correctly attributed. You need to be alert wherever it is on view, be it in a prestigious gallery for sale or in a non-profit setting such as an art museum.
Corinne Cain of SavvyCollector.com