ART RESEARCH SERVICES + IMAGES + ARCHIVES + AMERICAN ART
Provenance (noun). What is the history and origin of an artwork? Since I was a boy I was fascinated by the story of family albums, heirlooms, and art objects because of the stories they told. From the French verb provenir, which means "to come from," provenance is the word art collectors and art historians use to both tell and certify the stories related to any artwork. Who painted it, when, where, why? How owned it, treasured it, traded it, sold it? All these questions and more tell stories about what we chose to remember through art and why. My research centers on finding answers to these questions so that the stories we tell about the art that we love allows us to better know ourselves and each other. Because those stories are so meaningful, my work focuses on doing the necessary research to ensure our understanding of any particular work of art is grounded on facts derived from evidence.
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