Pollock Signature
The History of Artist’ Signatures
According to art critic and writer Thomas W. Arnold, in his book “Painting in Islam”, signatures have been placed on paintings as early as the 14th century. Arnold listed Persian miniature painter, Kamaleddin Behzad, as one of the first to use his signature in paintings.
Now, in the 21st century, there are many reasons that artist signatures are important; especially on a Jackson Pollock painting. Although the reason for putting a signature on painting’s prior to the 17th century was mostly for personal reasons, the artist signature’s of today are much more complex. This is mostly due to the increasing value of art in today’s world.
Why Is a Pollock Signature Important?
Pollock, as well as many other artists want to make sure that the world know whose art they are looking at. Artist signatures identify and validate the painter who painted the artwork. Signatures on paintings can easily be added or removed.
There are many interesting stories about Jackson Pollock, Pollock Signatures, as well as the lack thereof. When studying artist signatures there are many different ways each will leave that famous final mark. Many valuable paintings can be authenticated based solely on the consistency of that particular artist's signature. This is not the case with a Pollock Signature. Jackson Pollock left a trail of intrigue and mystery that lived much longer than the artist himself.
As recently as 2016, modern science uncovered 80 million dollars worth of forged Pollock paintings by analysing Pollock’s signature with a microscope capable of analyzing areas of the signature as small as a thousandth of a millimeter across. The scam is the biggest in American History and led to the discovery of nearly 40 forgeries sold by a prestigious gallery. When appraising a Jackson Pollock painting, the presence of a signature is certainly significant since Pollock’s signatures were not consistent. While there are artists that feel that placing a signature is necessary or not, the true value is always the artwork itself.
“The modern artist is working with space and time,
and expressing his feelings rather than illustrating.”