The Globe and Mail recently interviewed Alan Klinkhoff on the subject of one auction house’s controversial new practice of ink-stamping works of art with their commercial details. The following is an excerpt from the article Heffel to stop ink-stamping artworks by James Adams.
Alan Klinkhoff agrees. President of Montreal’s venerable Galerie Walter Klinkhoff, he too purchased “a few things” at Heffel’s Nov. 25 sale, including, for $29,250, a 1924 oil on board by A.Y. Jackson. The painting, Jackfish Lake, has two Heffel ink stamps on its back, and Klinkhoff has consulted with a conservator to pay to have them removed as well as those on his other purchases. However, in some instances, he predicts “there will be some residue left in the grain [of the wood panel] or weave of the canvas.”
“Tattooing directly on a work of art is a violation … serving no purpose beyond publicity for the vendor,” Klinkhoff added. “The quality of a fine work of art is often the sum of many considerations, including the materials the artist used [and] the back of the support, be it canvas, paper, wood, plastic, metal or whatever.”
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