More questions than answers

LeeTip · February 3rd, 2012, 09:49 AM

Hello, my name is Lee. I am new here so I am not sure how this works. I have came into a collection of art that belonged to my brother. He was an Antique Dealer for 40 years. Now, I have no idea of what any of them are nor do I have an idea of how to find out. I am in kansas and my brother always told me when I was ready to get rid of anything, not to do it here. Not so much a trust issue than they just wouldnt know.

I regress, is this the right place for me to find out what I have? Do I just send pictures to find out what ever information I can. The primary problem I have is reading the signatures. Even the art I like, the artist could have used a few lessons in penmenship.

Any sugestions would be very much welcomed.

John · February 3rd, 2012, 11:11 AM

Depends on the size of the collection. If large, perhaps you can enlist an art student or someone good at web searching to help you pick the low hanging fruit at least.

Or start by taking good photos of all the works and their signatures and posting them on Flickr or another image hosting site. Then post a link here. Lots of people would be happy to stroll through a gallery of paintings and point out the ones that look familiar, whereas responding to dozens of separate threads, or one thread with dozens of images posted, would be a nightmare.

BTW, there are similar forums at findartinfo.com and I think askart.com where you can post questions.

One more suggestion, use Google's reverse image search. It is often quite accurate at identifying pictures that can be found elsewhere on the Internet. It's good for prints and copies of paintings; if you've got the original then Google might still be of help but it's not going to bring up your exact painting. Just go to Google Image Search and click the little camera icon inside the search box.

February 3rd, 2012, 09:49 AM	#1
LeeTip Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 1	More questions than answers Hello, my name is Lee. I am new here so I am not sure how this works. I have came into a collection of art that belonged to my brother. He was an Antique Dealer for 40 years. Now, I have no idea of what any of them are nor do I have an idea of how to find out. I am in kansas and my brother always told me when I was ready to get rid of anything, not to do it here. Not so much a trust issue than they just wouldnt know. I regress, is this the right place for me to find out what I have? Do I just send pictures to find out what ever information I can. The primary problem I have is reading the signatures. Even the art I like, the artist could have used a few lessons in penmenship. Any sugestions would be very much welcomed.

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February 3rd, 2012, 11:11 AM	#2
John John Malyon, host Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 2,400	Depends on the size of the collection. If large, perhaps you can enlist an art student or someone good at web searching to help you pick the low hanging fruit at least. Or start by taking good photos of all the works and their signatures and posting them on Flickr or another image hosting site. Then post a link here. Lots of people would be happy to stroll through a gallery of paintings and point out the ones that look familiar, whereas responding to dozens of separate threads, or one thread with dozens of images posted, would be a nightmare. BTW, there are similar forums at findartinfo.com and I think askart.com where you can post questions. One more suggestion, use Google's reverse image search. It is often quite accurate at identifying pictures that can be found elsewhere on the Internet. It's good for prints and copies of paintings; if you've got the original then Google might still be of help but it's not going to bring up your exact painting. Just go to Google Image Search and click the little camera icon inside the search box.