Provenance and title risks in the art industry: mitigating these risks in museum management and curatorship

Abstract

The art world landscape on art object provenance and title risks is rapidly changing. Although provenance and title risks are overlapping concepts, they are not identical concepts and both interrelate with the market's authenticity risks. This landscape is changing for all parties including museums, their curatorial and operational management as well as their trustees. And it is changing in a myriad of contexts – from museums buying, deaccessioning, lending for exhibition or accepting artworks that have been donated as charitable gifts. Museum professionals should recognize this changing landscape, the current misperceptions about the nature and differences among these risks and not only the breadth of the potential impact of these risks but also the kinds of proactive measures which museum management can take today to mitigate these risks as stewards of the world's cultural history.