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Art(h)ür Yves Guignard PhD in Art History

Services · II

Look long, document everything, conclude with care.

Expert opinions

A work of art rarely arrives alone: it carries a signature, labels, a family story, sometimes a legend. I test all of this against the sources and set out my findings in a written, reasoned and documented report.

Following the completion of a thesis on the art collector and art dealer Wilhelm Uhde (1874–1947), I developed particular expertise in the European art market of the first half of the 20th century. Having worked as a guide-lecturer at the Fondation Beyeler (Riehen/Basel) for some fifteen years, I have engaged closely with the leading modern artists from the 19th century to the present day.

Some artists and subjects are particularly familiar to me, as I have devoted books to them: Coghuf, whose monograph I edited in 2021; Marius Borgeaud, on whom I have been publishing since 2015, including an essay in Marius Borgeaud, une fantastique aventure et la suite du catalogue raisonné; Pierre Michel; and the art of the Jura from 1950 to 1980.

When a work calls for material examination, I rely on a network of specialists with whom I know how to work: restorers, framers, photographers, provenance researchers.

An art historian’s opinion is not a certificate of authenticity. My reports distinguish what the sources establish, what they suggest and what remains open. Where the author of a catalogue raisonné, a committee or the artist’s estate is the recognised authority, I refer you to them and prepare the file to submit.

For whom

Private collectors

Before buying, lending or selling – or simply to know.

  • Documented report on a work: attribution, dating, subject, place within the artist’s œuvre
  • Reading of signatures, inscriptions, labels and stamps, front and back
  • Tracing the work in the literature and in exhibition and auction catalogues
  • Advice ahead of an acquisition: which questions to ask, which documents to request

Heirs & estates

When you inherit works you know almost nothing about.

  • Identification and description of inherited works
  • Sorting what calls for in-depth research from what belongs to family memory
  • Introductions to trusted restorers, framers and photographers

Museums & foundations

For works that deserve a solid catalogue entry.

  • Research on collection works and writing of scholarly catalogue entries
  • Contributions to exhibition catalogues and artist monographs
  • Critical review of object files: attributions, dates, bibliography

Approach

  1. 01

    First look

    You send me photographs (front, back, details) and any documents you have; I tell you frankly whether and how I can help.

  2. 02

    Examination

    I look at the work in person, with a restorer or photographer from my network where necessary.

  3. 03

    Research

    Archives, literature, exhibition and auction catalogues, comparison with the artist’s documented works.

  4. 04

    Report

    A written, illustrated and referenced report that separates established facts from hypotheses.

Let’s talk about your collection

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