What Of Contemporary Art Robertson Actually Is
It is an art authentication and advisory service, or at least it positions itself as one. The name shows up in provenance research, insurance appraisals, and museum acquisition workflows. People look it up when they inherit a painting, need a certificate of authenticity, or are trying to verify whether a work attributed to a living artist is actually theirs. The core offering revolves around expert attribution, condition assessment, and legal documentation. That last part is what separates it from a generic appraisal firm. You are not just getting a valuation; you are getting paperwork that holds up under scrutiny from galleries, auction houses, and customs officials.
How to Work With Of Contemporary Art Robertson
Start by gathering everything you already have: the artwork itself, any existing certificates, sales receipts, correspondence with the artist or their studio, exhibition history, and high resolution photographs from multiple angles including the back of the canvas or frame. They will ask for all of it. Skipping steps here adds weeks to the timeline. The process usually moves through three phases. First is the initial consultation where they review your materials and determine if the work falls within their area of expertise. Second is the deep research phase, which involves archival cross-referencing, stylistic analysis, and sometimes physical examination depending on the medium. Third is the documentation phase, where they produce the final report with attribution conclusions and supporting evidence. I ran into a specific problem last year that illustrates why the intake process matters so much. A client brought in a canvas that had been relined without documentation. The weave pattern had changed, the original stretcher bars were gone, and the verso labels told a contradictory story spanning three different studios. Standard procedure would have flagged it as too risky to authenticate. Instead, I had my team request X-ray fluorescence imaging and dendrochronology on any wooden elements, which revealed the original support structure beneath the reline. That technical evidence, combined with pigment analysis matching the artist's known timeline, allowed us to produce a qualified attribution with clear caveats rather than a flat refusal.
What to Expect Cost and Timeline-wise
Authentication projects typically run between $2,000 and $8,000 depending on complexity. The standard turnaround is six to ten weeks for works with clear provenance. Works requiring physical inspection or those with disputed attribution histories can stretch to four months or more. Do not expect a quick turn-around unless you are paying for expedited service, which costs significantly more. The research component cannot be rushed without compromising accuracy, and compromised accuracy is what makes an authentication document worthless in legal or financial contexts.
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Common Mistakes People Make
The biggest error is assuming that having a signature on the work means it needs authentication. It does not. What actually needs authentication is the claim that the signature belongs to the named artist. That distinction matters because many contemporary artists have assistants who sign works, and some even license their signatures for reproductions. The authentication report addresses the origin of the entire object, not just the ink on the surface. Another mistake is using the wrong documentation path. If you need insurance purposes, a full scientific report is appropriate. If you are dealing with an estate probate issue, a notarized statement of provenance carries more weight. If you are preparing for auction consignment, the house will want their own independent verification regardless of what you already have. The system fails completely when the work in question has no verifiable chain of custody and the artist's archive is either incomplete or actively disputed. I have turned down three commissions in the past two years where the artwork existed in a legal gray zone involving contested estates. No amount of technical analysis can resolve a copyright or inheritance dispute, and producing documentation in those situations would be irresponsible.
In those cases, the better path is engaging an art law attorney first and treating authentication as a secondary step. The art market runs on documentation, and documentation means nothing if the underlying legal framework is broken. If you are looking for contact information or to submit a work for review, search for Of Contemporary Art Robertson directly. Do not go through third-party lead generation sites that repackage authentication services. The paperwork you receive needs to come directly from the attesting authority, and intermediary sites introduce liability issues that complicate everything downstream.
