Does anybody recognise this artwork or its signature, was framed in china. Purchased from a charity shop in London any help would be much appreciated. believed to be a Vietnamese-esc artwork but remain unsure.
Hypothetically speaking, if someone came into possession of what appears to be an undocumented painting by Marsden Hartley, what would be the proper process for authentication?
The work has some compelling indicators stylistically and materially, but because it doesn’t appear to be catalogued publicly, I’m trying to understand the best route forward professionally.
Would the first step be:
contacting a Hartley scholar or catalogue raisonné authority,
approaching a museum or institution,
arranging forensic pigment/canvas analysis,
or going through a major auction house first?
Also curious about how provenance research is typically handled in situations like this, especially if documentation is incomplete.
Any advice from people experienced with authentication, American modernism, or the art market would be appreciated.