In Hungary whose task should it be to establish the authenticity of a work of art and to verify that responsibly?
MúzeumCafé 22.
Péter Buzinkay, Art historian, head of the artworks inspectorate at the National Office of Cultural Heritage: What is the purpose? Artwork classification, namely establishing the time and place of origin of cultural items and their professional recording, as well as determining their cultural (and in certain circumstances financial) value, is part of the everyday work of museums and public collections. Similarly, at the request of the National Office of Cultural Heritage specialist work is undertaken by public collections in relation to declaring items protected and in connection with export permits. Specialist work, in the same sense of the term, is also carried out by criminal prosecution bodies, the courts and experts in the legal system. What’s the situation with private individuals? Who tells them the value of a painting hanging in their living room and whether it corresponds to what was assumed in the family tradition? Today’s answers are different from those given a decade ago. The institutional system in museum professional practice inherited from socialist times was still in place in the 1990s. For different prices you could buy a verbal or written estimate. However, with the establishment of free-market relations numerous questions were raised. Was a 10 or 15 thousand forint specialist opinion worth the risk, since a mistake made about the attribution of a painting could lead to claims for compensation amounting to millions.
László Lengyel Art historian, head of the Records Department at the Museum of Fine Arts: The range of artworks whose assessment is not resolved by domestic expertise is much broader. Hungary has no high-level ‘expertise’ training. There are many well-qualified and experienced people working in the domestic art market, but those who have had some professional training are few and far between. That’s why the initiative of the Kieselbach Gallery is interesting. A recent development is that, thanks to Tondo Sp 1 Ltd., you can now in Hungary get a state-of-the-art technical examination at market prices, though conclusions about attribution made on that basis are often problematic. In Hungary in vain do many outstanding specialists work in research institutes and universities as there are several difficulties in terms of putting their knowledge to use in the field of artwork attribution. The situation is somewhat different for experts working in museums. There are many people in the museum network who understand how to assess works of art. Hungarian museums have an excellent tradition when it comes to the expert attribution of art objects. In contrast, museums as buyers represent a very modest factor in the market. Moreover, objects acquired by museums are coming into public ownership. From the point of view of the state it’s a strategic mistake and a cultural loss to discontinue artwork assessment activities. In a legally well-regulated system the participants in these fields of culture (museologists, collectors, art dealers) can strengthen each other. Their future cooperation is inevitable. That’s how it works all over the world.
Gábor Bellák, Art historian, Hungarian National Gallery: Art dealing is a risky business, precisely because of the fakes. In many instances, however, pictures change owners in a private transaction, for which a professional opinion about the works is available. In truth, the uninformed buyer cannot know that many ‘expert’ opinions are absolutely useless, since the so-called specialist has gambled away all trust and his opinions are only used for legalising fakes. Endeavours to bring order to the domestic art market are entirely understandable. For this, however, it is necessary that criminal proceedings be instituted against today’s very active forgers – who don’t recoil from faking official stamps and documents, or the ‘opinions’ of both living and deceased experts. The recently founded agency is based on very distinguished, competent people. Besides their expertise only independence can constitute the firm basis of their authenticity. It’s difficult to imagine, however, that they can completely separate their specialist activities from their commercial interests.
Gábor Einspach Legal specialist of artwork, staff member of the Kieselbach Gallery: I don’t know whose responsibility it should be, but there are some basic conditions which have to be addressed. Without expertise and taking financial responsibility there can be no confidence in this business. The primary task of the First Hungarian Art Specialists Agency, which we have established, is to deal with questions of authenticity and artistic quality. The aim of filtering out fakes is to help ensure that Hungarian paintings can appear purely and uncontaminated in both domestic and international arenas. We want to see new, so far unknown pictures – lots of them. We think it’s important for newly rediscovered works to be identified and to take their place in Hungarian art history, so that as soon as possible and on the highest level they can again become part of our culture by means of exhibitions and publications.