Provenance, authenticity still unclear, but possible Pollocks have been sold anyway
An announcement two years ago of the discovery of a trove of small drip paintings thought to be the work of Jackson Pollock set off an uproar in the world of art scholarship that has yet to die down. The paintings have been scrutinized by connoisseurs, been subjected to computerized pattern tests, undergone chemical analysis at Harvard and elsewhere, and deeply divided a group of once-united Pollock experts.
Now questions about their authenticity may begin reverberating in the art market too. The man who found the paintings, Alex Matter —- the son of Herbert and Mercedes Matter, close friends of Pollock —- has quietly sold some of them, though he had generally maintained in interviews that he was not interested in profiting from their discovery.
He has never publicly disclosed selling any of the works —- 32 in all, including some ephemera and works on paper. Twenty-five paintings are scheduled to appear on Sept. 1 at an exhibition at the McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College and will be the subject of an exhibition catalog featuring new scholarship by Ellen G. Landau, one of the world’s leading Pollock experts. She has said she believes the works are genuine, though recent scientific tests have begun to suggest that they are not.
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Now questions about their authenticity may begin reverberating in the art market too. The man who found the paintings, Alex Matter —- the son of Herbert and Mercedes Matter, close friends of Pollock —- has quietly sold some of them, though he had generally maintained in interviews that he was not interested in profiting from their discovery.
He has never publicly disclosed selling any of the works —- 32 in all, including some ephemera and works on paper. Twenty-five paintings are scheduled to appear on Sept. 1 at an exhibition at the McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College and will be the subject of an exhibition catalog featuring new scholarship by Ellen G. Landau, one of the world’s leading Pollock experts. She has said she believes the works are genuine, though recent scientific tests have begun to suggest that they are not.