This story begins where most would end. On April 16, 1828, the Spanish artist Francisco de Goya died at age 82. It is often said that an artist’s work becomes more valuable in death than in lifewhile it appears to potential buyers that scarcity is now a factor in art no longer being created. Buyers of Goya prints need not worry, however, because many more of his etchings were produced after his death than before. All of the artist’s printing plates became the property of Madrid’s Prado Museum not long after his death, and the museum has regularly leased them to various publishers to raise funds.
These are works of art created posthumously – they are Goyas, of course, but not ones the artist ever saw or approved for sale. These works enter a gray area of the art trade and are not only works by Goya. Graphic art prints, photographic prints and cast sculptures are all produced using plates, negatives and molds that can be reused time and time again.
“Posthumous editions of both Diane Arbus‘s and Peter HujarHis work arose to satisfy the demands of the exhibition. Christian Whitworthdirector of San Francisco’s Fraenkel Gallery, told the Observer, noting that “private collectors and institutions collect works both in life and after death.” Indeed, most of Arbus’ works in institutional collections are posthumous prints, as she ended her life without concern for future market interests. Whitworth confirmed that buyers pay more for timeless prints, sometimes called “vintage” prints, although the price gap between work created when an artist was alive and after their death varies considerably. “Life prints of Arbus usually cost about 10 times as much as her posthumous prints;” the price difference between Hujar’s life and posthumous prints is not that great.
Goya lived much longer than Arbus, but he oversaw the creation of only one edition of his group of 80 etchings known as whims in 1799. The second edition was published posthumously in 1855. By 1937, when the definitive study of his graphic work was published, there were 12 editions. (There is no record of how many more editions were produced in the almost 90 years since then.) His most famous group of images, the work 82 Disasters of Warfirst published in 1863. By 1937, seven editions had been published.
In 2013, New York’s Paul Kasmin Gallery presented an exhibition of newly created metal sculptures by Konstantin Brancusi (1876-1957) produced from molds found in the artist’s studio. Kasmin represented Brancusi’s estate and was involved in the decision to create posthumous pieces, which were priced up to $4.5 million. There was some debate at the time about how authentic these works were after the artist’s death, as Brancusi tended to work on each piece of casting—polishing here, roughening the surface there—to make each one unique, whereas these newer sculptures were all shiny and polished. Hybrid? Knock-offs? After death is the only word that adequately describes them.
There are other examples. The United States Pavilion at the 2007 Venice Biennale featured an untitled sculpture by Felix Gonzalez-Torreswho had died 11 years earlier and left behind only rough sketches of what he envisioned the final work of art would look like. Curator of the Guggenheim Museum Nancy Spector organized the creation of the work based on those sketches for the international exhibition. No one blames Spector, but what visitors encountered was basically her best guess.
There is no expiration date for the production of posthumous works. “There are a number of artists on whose market you will find posthumous prints, particularly at Old Master Prints.” Monica Brownmanaging director of fine art and head of prints and multiples at Freeman’s Auctions, told the Observer. “For example, because Rembrandt’s copper plates are still preserved, you will find a number of posthumous impressions over the many centuries since he died.” Life is short, but art goes on and on.
With Arbus, Hujar, Brancusi, Goya and Rembrandt, nothing illegal is going on, and lower-priced but otherwise identical lifetime versions of artworks allow buyers with less money to purchase artworks with famous names attached. (More copies also allow more people to see these works of art in person.) Collectors at any level need to learn enough about the posthumous art market to know if a piece is worth the price. Or to put it another way, to know if something is an investable work of art or a Goya-esque souvenir.
A gray area in the art market
As mentioned, works of art produced after death are generally less valuable than those made during an artist’s lifetime. Christine Berlane, who is in charge of prints and multiple sales at Eldred Auction House in East Dennis, Massachusetts, told the Observer about the sale of a print by Isabel Bishop titled 14 Oriental Street. “We had mistakenly cataloged it as a pre-publication proof print, which meant it had been printed in its press in small numbers and was rare and desirable. Cataloged as such, it sold for $1,000. Upon examination of the work out of frame by the buyer, he saw the double S slash mark embedded. Steven Sholinskywho was a printer employed by AAA in the 1980s to print editions of Bishop’s prints.” Given this information, the auctioneer is re-offering the print at a much lower estimate of $200-$300.
That said, the price a work of art commands doesn’t always depend on whether the artist was alive when it was created. of Robert Maplethorpe The foundation has commissioned editions of the artist’s images (1946-89), generally larger in size (49×60 inches or 60×60 inches) than those created during Mapplethorpe’s lifetime, which range in price “from the low to mid-six figures,” according to the foundation’s managing director. Jore Adilmanwho told the Observer that the average price for a lifetime print by the artist – the largest measuring 16×20 inches or 20×24 inches – is $25,000-$30,000. On the other hand, David Westonowner of the Weston Gallery in Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif., said “rare and iconic works” by her grandfather Edward Weston have sold for more than $1 million, while those printed by the photographer’s youngest son, Cole, from Edward Weston’s original negatives after the artist’s death in 1958, fetch $10,000-$15,000 “in today’s market.” Cole’s older brother Brett Weston also made prints of his father’s work under his father’s direction when he could no longer make his own due to Parkinson’s disease, and these sold for prices closer to those made by Edward Weston himself, though not quite as much.
Somewhat more abnormally, you can buy a “wall drawing” from Sol LeWitt (1928-2007), which was to be executed by specially trained assistants in charge of his estate, at a price no lower than when the artist was still alive. In fact, LeWitt never executed any of his wall drawings during his lifetime. always leaving the task to the assistants.
In some cases, the market is flooded with prints and casts of sculptures produced years after the artists’ deaths, resulting in works of questionable quality that cause confusion among buyers. Painter and printer William Hogarth died in 1764, but editions of his engravings continued to be produced until 1850 by his widow and later by her cousin, and then by a succession of publishers who bought the printing plates from whoever possessed them.
The worst example of posthumous artwork is generally accepted to be the bronze sculpture of Frederick Remington (1861-1909). Alice Duncandirector of the Gerald Peters Gallery in New York City, referred to some Remington castings as “a whole can of worms.” After the artist died in 1909, the publications were placed in the care of his estate and his widow, Eva. After her death in 1918, editions were produced without any authorization at all, which Duncan called “midnight casts”.
“One assumes they are either cast from other bronzes” — referred to in the sculpture field as overlays — “or from molds that were invisible in the foundry when the estate’s attorneys demanded that all the molds be destroyed,” she said. Editions continued to be made and are produced to this day, for example, by the Frederic Remington Art Museum in Ogdensburg, New York, which earns a third of its annual revenue through copies. You can also call them souvenirs or decor, but it certainly does not work as an investment. “In our gallery, we call them boat anchors or gates,” Duncan said, adding that you can often see Remingtons of this type on eBay. Gerald Peters Gallery will only take on Remington sculptures that can be proven to have been produced during the artist’s lifetime or to have been produced on the authority of his widow.
An ounce of prevention
Buyers looking at posthumous artwork should do their own research or hire an advisor—preferably a dealer familiar with the material—to determine when and by whom a particular work was produced. One of the first sources experts consult is the catalog raisonné (published annotated list of all known works of art by an artist), such as Thomas Harris‘ Goya’s prints OR Michael D. GreenbaumS ‘ Icons of the West: The Sculpture of Frederic Remington. These provide illustrations that can be checked against an artwork someone is looking to buy, noting when certain editions were produced, the number of copies made (if this information is available), which print publisher or foundry made the edition, changes made to the images and the quality of the impressions. Greenbaum went so far as to test the metals used in different editions, finding that a rich edition of Remington’s 1905 Rattlesnakeproduced on May 31, 1918, contained more tin and lead than those produced in a posthumous casting of 1920. (A metal test is not an uncommon tool in authenticating sculpture.)
Joe Stanfielddirector of fine art at Wright Auctions, recommends that prospective buyers request a printed copy of an artwork background—its ownership history—which will ideally reveal an unbroken chain of custody, as well as where and when an artwork was first purchased. This information may be less available for much older works, such as a Rembrandt, than for a Remington, but may still be intact for a Hogarth or a Goya. But, he added, it pays to work with an expert. “I may not be able to tell when a work was created, but there are researchers who know what to look for and can save you a lot of money and heartbreak,” he said.
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