Moult de Parte — Georges Mathieu’s sign Georges MathieuThe official website

Certificate Request

The Comité Georges Mathieu (Georges Mathieu Committee), created by Mr Édouard Lombard, possesses the artist’s archives, and is, in accordance with Georges Mathieu’s wishes, the only body authorized to sign certificates of authenticity and capable of compiling the catalog raisonné. Please find below the elements to send us for each work in order for us to deliver their certificates of authenticity.

Terms and Conditions

We can only answer to requests coming from the current owners of the works or any mandatary who can prove having received the delegation of this request by the owners. If you are a potential buyer, or the payment for the work has not been made in full, you have to ask the seller to contact us to obtain the certificate so that they can provide it to you.

Only original works are concerned. Reproductions (lithograph or offset) and autographs are not concerned.

A fee per each certified work is required to fund the Committee’s activities:

  • € 1200 for a work on canvas or panel
  • € 800 for a work on paper or cardboard

We will ask you to present the work physically, at your expense, at a location of your choice in Paris or its immediate suburbs (e.g., gallery, auction house, transporter’s storage). We will not be able to hold it in storage. Please specify the dates for availability.

Your sending of the information and documents requested below brings your certificate request into being, and therefore your commitment to bear the resulting costs. When your certificate will be ready to be issued to you, we will ask you to send us your payment by bank transfer (bearing the bank fees on both sides in case of an international transfer).

The certificate must always follow the work in case of resale, and will not be replaced in case of loss.

Information

Send the following information using this contact form.

  • Known title and year of work
  • Exact dimensions of the work (height x width, in cm to the nearest mm, without the frame)
  • Description of the medium and technique used
  • Any inscription on the front or on the back of the work
  • Any information or story about its origin, its successive owners, the exhibitions where it was presented, any restoration work
  • The name and the postal address to be used for the invoice and for the delivery of the certificate (it must be the owner of the work or their mandatary in due form)
  • Your cellular phone number, should the Committee need to contact you
  • The indication of ownership that could appear in a catalogue raisonné (e.g. “private collection”)

Photographs and documents

Send the following files using the page georgesmathieu.wetransfer.com
Do not use other websites, nor the generic WeTransfer site.

  • Front of the work, if possible without the frame, next to a ruler, and if possible next to a photographer color chart (for instance, X-Rite ColorChecker) and a version of this image cropped to only show the front of the artwork
  • Back of the work and a version of this image cropped to only show the back of the artwork
  • Detailed close-up of the signature
  • Detailed close-up of each writing on the work or medium: labels, stamps, inscriptions, or any other sign even if it is slightly visible, either on the front, back or sides, either on the medium, the stretcher or the frame (pay attention to the possible presence of a title written in pencil on the frame, which may be very faded)
  • High resolution scans of any previous certificate of authenticity (in the case of a certificate issued by Georges Mathieu, you must physically provide it along with the artwork, it will be returned to you)
  • High resolution scans of any document related to the work or accompanying it: publication or catalog, invoice, proof of ownership, correspondence…

Digital photographs must be sharp, unretouched, and at the highest possible resolution (min. 12 million pixels), without reflections or perspective effects. We recommend that you enlist the aid of a confirmed photographer. If you do so, make sure that the photographer explicitly acknowledges that the Comité Georges Mathieu exclusively holds all reproduction rights on Georges Mathieu artworks, and consequently on the photographs they produce.

By transmitting photographs to us, you acknowledge that the Comité Georges Mathieu exclusively holds all reproduction rights to them. Therefore the Committee can freely use them, including in the context of a catalogue raisonné, books, exhibitions and online publications.