Art criticism examination of cultural values

Art has always been appreciated. And every year true connoisseurs of art are ready to pay big money for various objects of cultural value - paintings, figurines, various antiques or famous authors. To establish the authenticity of the product and find out its value, an art criticism examination is carried out. This is a very important procedure for all connoisseurs of genuine art. Art expert examination is carried out in order to establish the presence or absence of evidence of the possibility of attributing a work to the heritage of one or another author, to determine the degree of preservation of the object, the presence or absence of restoration work, to determine whether it belongs to a certain period of time, as well as art expert examination will answer the question: is the object under study cultural, historical, scientific, artistic, archaeological, or other value.

Historical and art history expertise has a number of full-fledged synonyms, namely:

cultural expertise;
art criticism expertise;
historical and cultural expertise.

Art criticism examinations are most often carried out in the framework of criminal cases, incl. related to the theft of works of art and antiques, in customs cases of smuggling, criminal cases of fraud, criminal cases of copyright infringement, attempted non-return of items of artistic, historical and archaeological heritage, illegal circulation of weapons, destruction or damage to historical and cultural monuments.

Compared to the term "art history examination", which is more often used in forensic practice, another term - "art history examination" is methodologically more accurate, since in addition to works of art, this kind of examination often includes objects that are not a work of art or are of a certain value, which are valued due to their considerable age and rarity.

The main tasks of art criticism are the attribution of the investigated work, object or thing (determining the time, place and other circumstances of its creation), establishing its authenticity, cultural or historical value, sometimes - establishing the specific author of the work.

The objects of art criticism are so diverse that it is hardly possible to compile a complete list of them. These include:

art history examination of postage stamps and postcards;
art criticism of painting (paintings, drawings, icons, graphics);
art criticism of sculpture;
art criticism examination of works of decorative and applied art (porcelain, ceramics, faience, majolica, terracotta);
art criticism examination of the authenticity of works of art;
art criticism of ancient or ancient weapons;
art history examination of antique furniture;
art criticism of clothing of the last century;
art history examination of old coins;
art criticism of photographs;
art criticism examination of books, manuscripts;
art criticism examination of musical works.

This list can be continued indefinitely. Humanity was very versatile, which is why art criticism expertise will never sit idle. Using forensic terminology, we can say that objects, products and texts of historical, cultural or artistic value are the objects of art criticism expertise.

In the forensic sense, when appointing and conducting forensic art criticism and extrajudicial research, identification, diagnostic and classification tasks are solved.

Among art experts, it is customary to distinguish between attribution and expertise. In the first case, we are talking about art criticism in order to study the subject and determine it, individual and classification features, on the basis of which it takes its place in museum or library collections, receives its artistic or historical status. It doesn't matter if it is a painting, or a vase, a spear or a crown. With the help of art history expertise, you can find out the time, place and other circumstances of the creation of a given object of culture or art.

Another important task of art criticism is to establish the authenticity of the object of art under study, to establish its cultural or historical value, and sometimes to identify the specific author of the work. Thanks to such examinations, many works of famous authors were found after many years of absence. Indeed, during the wars, many museums and storage facilities were looted. And only many years later, these objects of art, once again and having passed the art criticism examination, were again published. If it were not for the art criticism expertise, many antiques and works of famous authors could have sunk into oblivion. Experts diligently studied objects of art and found the true sources of their appearance, established the authenticity of objects and proved to the whole world that these objects of art are not lost for the nation and the world community.

Art criticism is carried out in cases where the data of attribution or information about the subject is in doubt and, for one reason or another, must be duly confirmed by experts - culturologists.

The specificity of this type of expert activity lies in the fact that until recently there were practically no professional forensic art experts with practical experience in conducting art expert examination in criminal cases. This is due to the fact that art experts of a wide profile are rare, one and the same specialist is unlikely to be able to simultaneously know in detail the history of porcelain production, the peculiarities of the production of Moscow early printed books and changes in the composition of the author's grounds for paintings from the second quarter of the 19th century. Deep knowledge of the history of art inevitably implies a narrow specialization, therefore, in the conduct of art expert examinations, in most cases, specialists who did not have special expert training participated. Only the most authoritative art critics from those whose narrow professional specialization the alleged author of the work belongs to are involved in the art criticism of a particular work.

When conducting an examination of works of Russian art, when the estimated estimate exceeds $ 100,000, we consider it necessary to reach a consensus of several independent experts.

In most cases, the purpose of the art criticism expertise is associated with the need to confirm the attribution of art or antique items and the assessment of their monetary value, but not always.

Art experts largely rely on the results of technological research, but only art critics can say whether a given thing is characteristic of a given artist or not, and only they have the right to name the author.

The questions that are posed to art experts (culturologists) vary greatly depending on the nature of the objects under study.

Thus, an expert gunsmith (an expert on historical weapons science) most often answers the questions:

Does this item (weapon) represent historical and cultural value?
Does this weapon belong to a military weapon?
What is the state of preservation of the object (weapon) at the time of the historical and art history (cultural) examination?
what is the estimated price of this item (weapon)?

An art expert on jewelry most often receives items with a master's stigma and questions about the authenticity of the item and its estimated value. Approximately the same questions are solved by an expert on works of painting: in most cases, he has to check the information available to the owner of the work and assess its monetary value. With the development of the antiques market, the need for historical and cultural expertise increases from year to year.

The expert-art critic of the department of manuscripts carries out the following types of work in the examination of handwritten books and archival materials:

determines the authorship and authenticity of documents (art objects);
dates materials (when examining handwritten books and a number of archival materials, scientific literature on paper signs is actively involved; filigree and stamps are studied);
determines the place of compilation and existence of materials;
describes the defects in preservation, the physical condition of the bindings and materials of the art object;
examines labels, owner's records, bookplates and stamps, determines the status and significance of the persons mentioned (objects of art);
decides on the degree of uniqueness of materials (availability of lists, including in other archives; study of language features);
determines their scientific significance and gives a monetary value to art objects.

In the guides for investigators and judges, the following generalized questions are given, solved by art experts:

Does this work, object or thing represent artistic or historical and cultural value?
Does this work, object or thing have an artistic purpose, or does it not belong to objects of art?
what is the time and place of creation (production or manufacture) of this work, object or thing?
Is this work an original or a copy (replica, stylization, later forgery, dummy, compilation), is it unique or serial?
Which direction of art or craft (school) does this work belong to?
what is the state of preservation of the work?
Was this work subject to alteration (restoration, editing), which one?
what is the estimated monetary value of the work?
Is the author of the presented work a specific person?

On the other hand, the forensic and methodological components in the conclusions of forensic historical and art criticism, made in non-expert institutions, are often insufficiently expressed. There are cases when the conclusions of art experts, when deciding on the attribution or authorship of works, only state the opinion of an expert, but do not appear as the result of a multi-stage study, the description of which would allow another expert or specialist to be convinced of the reliability and validity of the conclusions made.

Most forensic art criticism examinations are complex in nature, due to the integrative nature of the tasks facing the expert. In many cases, a cultural expert has to examine the materials of the art product, the author's signature or brand, the manner (style) of writing, signs of later impact (damage, alteration, restoration). Not every large museum and not every library can afford to purchase expensive analytical equipment for physical and chemical measurements, not to mention the shortage of good electron microscopes.

We offer a wide range of consulting, expert services to owners of works of art, antiques and other types of cultural property or items that, in your opinion, may be of any value. Having a unique art history and expert base, we provide our clients with the maximum range of services.

To carry out an art criticism examination, you need to contact our office and the value expected for the study in order to conclude an agreement for the examination. The agreement will clearly state those questions to which you want to receive answers. You leave the value expected for research for safekeeping at the company's office, which is noted in the contract. The time for the examination depends on the scope of work and is determined in each case individually, as a rule, the examination takes at least two weeks. The examination is carried out by experts who have extensive experience in performing such work.

After the expert completes all research and analytical work, the accumulated material is summarized in an expert opinion, to which documents of experts confirming their powers are attached. The expert opinion is certified by the seals of the company, has full legal force to justify purchase and sale transactions, or for other purposes. We recommend carrying out an art criticism examination, especially before making a decision to buy and sell expensive paintings, in order to avoid negative consequences for both the buyer and the seller.