What Does an Artist’s Signature Add to the Value of a Work of Art

In the years he worked as the New York director of Crown Point Press, Kim Schmidt worked with many artists—John Cage, Francesco Clemente, Richard Diebenkorn, Al Held, Pat Steir and Wayne Thiebaud, among others—on their publications, and each produced images according to their own processes, which could be very different. However, Schmidt had one iron rule for all artists and the entire old system: “We would not allow works to come out that were not signed and numbered.”

Like a watchful parent, Schmidt watched as the artists checked their manuscripts, signing and numbering the ones they approved and discarding the ones that weren’t up to par—he rubbed them in front of the artists. “I have made sure that we do not go beyond what is written, because we do not want unsigned and numberless printers floating in the market,” he told the Observer. It is not an interesting or artistic work for an artist or printmaker to go through a publication, write ‘1/50 Richard Diebenkorn, 2/50 Richard Diebenkorn’ and so on up to 50 prints, and then sign additional impressions identified as Artist’s Proof or Printer’s Proof or HC, or other proof reduction specials.

“Musicians are rarely happy that they have to sit down and sign their names over and over again,” said Schmidt. Sometimes, the artists got tired of doing it, or their writing was sloppy. I could see this happening with Richard Estes, and I suggested we take a break and go out for lunch and eat sushi.” Presumably, that break helped regain the artist’s patience to sign and write the remaining numbers.

The act of signing works of art—paintings, photographs, drawings, sculptures or otherwise—can ultimately mean a greater financial reward than food. The signature informs the viewer that the artist created the work and authorized it to be sold. “It says ‘This work is finished and ready to go out into the world,'” Edwynn Houk, a Manhattan photography gallery owner, told the Observer. That said statement has a monetary value, as “unsigned works sell for less or take longer to sell.” There is more effort involved in selling unsigned pieces, he explains, because “I need more paperwork,” meaning proof that the work was produced in the artist’s studio, released for sale and public display. The print may have been created by an artist but was set aside as unsatisfactory, hence not signed. Evidence that a work was exhibited suggests that the artist authorized it to be exhibited and sold.

“I was given unsigned and unnumbered works by Ellsworth Kelly,” said Schmidt, who now works as a dealer. I almost always say, ‘No, thanks.’ Kelly was very careful about each book, and I don’t want to risk something that he might not have noticed.”

In some cases, the full economic value of printing lies in the signature. Salvador Dali and Marc Chagall both signed blank sheets of paper that were later used for reproductions of their most famous works. Picasso’s granddaughter, Marina, published a series of autographs of the artist. his his name—his signature is reported to be very similar to Picasso’s. Last fall, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s estate published a series of screens based on the late artist’s 1982-83 painting. King Alfonsosigned by Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heiveaux, Basquiat’s sisters and executors of his estate. In all of these cases, the artists have never seen the finished print, yet the works are still being sold at prices that suggest they are authentic original works of art.

Artists’ backgrounds often help address questions of authenticity. Jill Newhouse, a New York City gallery owner specializing in American and European art of the 19th and 20th Centuries, told the Observer that “while some works are signed during the artist’s lifetime, most works are stamped, meaning the stamp is applied after the death of the artist’s patrons to works left in the artist’s studio. Bonnard, Matisse and others.”

The tradition of artists signing their prints goes back nearly a century; before that, artists often used monograms instead. Artists such as Toulouse-Lautrec and Pierre Bonnard would sign some works and leave others unsigned, depending on collectors’ needs and circumstances. They often signed works at the time of sale, while artists who remained unsold during the artist’s lifetime were sometimes not signed. In those cases, the market does not distinguish between signed and unsigned impressions, since there is no doubt that the artists authorized their production and sale.

The convention of signing an entire program at the same time has recently occurred, since the 1930s, when the Parisian dealer Leo Spitzer persuaded several great artists, including Matisse and Picasso, to reproduce refined reproductions that they will sign, and will sell.

Most artists know that their signature can increase the value of their work. Picasso produced a series of etchings in the 1930s known as the “Vollard Suite,” which he began signing in the 1950s and 1960s to help raise money for the left-wing political causes he supported. Norman Rockwell and Andrew Wyeth signed a series of prints to support their respective museums—Rockwell’s in Stockbridge, Massachusetts and Wyeth’s in Brandywine River, Pennsylvania. Some artists have used signature versions for less charitable purposes.

“Signatures are a sign of creativity,” Henri Neuendorf, a Manhattan art dealer who specializes in postwar and contemporary art, told the Observer. “They say to the audience or potential buyers that the work of art really belongs to the artist.” However, some artists simply neglect to sign certain works, which does not diminish their authenticity. “About a year ago,” he noted, “I had an unsigned Warhol painting on consignment. Given the quality of Warhol’s studio and his working methods, unsigned Warhols are not uncommon. Importantly, the piece was stamped with the legacy of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, which is used with an unsigned number corresponding to Warhol’s unsigned number. References to their other records.” Still, uncertainty remains. “The estate of Sam Francis has sold works after the artist’s death that he left unsigned and marked with a seal. Some market participants believe that he did not see that these works were good enough to sell and represent his work, so signed works sometimes sell for more than stamped works. It is impossible to know for sure what Francis’s intention was with these things, as he was no longer his intention for us.”

Problems arise when signatures are forged on products or printed directly on paper next to the artist’s image, which can be seen by examining the dots of the print under magnification. Houk said the “legal heir” of photographer Lewis Hine (1874-1940) “made unlimited editions of Hine’s photographs for himself, selling them with fake signatures.” Such practices introduce uncertainty into the market and force sellers to provide extensive documentation establishing the basis.

Many, but not all, buyers know to look for a signature in a work of art. Is it the front of the painting or the back of the canvas? Is the sculpture signed on its base? Was the photo signed after it was printed? Even if collectors know how to check, recognizing that a signature is authentic can be difficult. Another bad example came during the Knoedler Gallery scandal, when court documents allege that one of the disputed works attributed to Jackson Pollock had a misspelled signature that read “Pollok.”

“Typically, an unsigned work by the artist is not going to fetch what a signed example will,” Joshua Eldred, president and CEO of Eldred’s auction house, told the Observer. The seller may face significant scrutiny. “For example, folk art paintings of the 18th and 19th centuries are rarely signed, but they often present distinctive features that allow us to identify the artist,” referring to outside experts on certain artists or art categories. In some cases, paintings come with documents that prove their authenticity. If it’s a letter from a known expert to the artist, that’s as good as signing the piece, especially if the artist included the work in the artist’s catalog raisonné”—a book listing all of the artist’s known works. “If the letter isn’t from the artist’s expert, it doesn’t carry much weight. I often warn clients about ‘certificates of authenticity,’ especially for vintage paintings. Anyone with a laser printer can print it, and they are often used by unscrupulous people to give the consumer a false sense of security.”

More for art collectors