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The Obscura Catalog blog.
Articles on the catalogue raisonné of a photographic body of work: works and numbers, prints and editions, provenance, exchanges with institutions, certificates. Technical terms link to the glossary.
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Each article links to the glossary for technical terms.
A certificate of authenticity for a photograph: what it attests, and what it does not
Who declares what, what an Ed25519 signature proves, what a date is worth, how to verify a certificate online, and what a certificate of authenticity does not replace: expertise, the law. With Obscura Catalog's certificate as an example.
Read the articleLIDO, CIDOC CRM, CSV: moving a catalogue without losing it
Exchanging a catalogue raisonné with a museum or an archive: open versus proprietary formats, CSV, LIDO and CIDOC CRM, authority identifiers, and EXIF and XMP metadata written without touching the image's pixels.
Read the articlePrints, editions, artist's proofs: documenting what really exists
Declared edition size and copies actually printed, print numbering, artist's and printer's proofs, provenance with its gaps, exhibition history: what a photographic catalogue raisonné must say, and what collectors, galleries and estates expect from it.
Read the articleWhat is a catalogue raisonné, and why does a photographer need one?
Work, print, file: why a photographic work is not its file, why its number must never be reassigned, and what makes a record complete. The basics of the catalogue raisonné, applied to photography.
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