What can the back of a painting tell you?
Follow labels, stamps, and inscriptions from physical observation to documentary evidence.
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DepositArt
An editorial archive for art stories, rare objects, collecting culture, and the ideas that help cultural memory survive.
Look closer
Reading the clues in an artwork
A label, a pencil inscription, or the surface of a print can start a useful investigation. These guides explain what to record, which records to compare, and where a visual clue reaches its limits.
What does AP mean on an art print?
Understand artist proofs, numbered editions, and the documentation to check before buying.
Original print or reproduction?
Compare how an image was made without treating a signature or edition number as proof.
Explore the topics
Art, artifacts, and collecting culture
Art Stories
Artists, movements, exhibitions, and visual ideas explained with context.
Artifacts
Objects, symbols, materials, and the cultural value hidden in physical things.
Collecting
Guides for people who want to understand, collect, preserve, and evaluate art.
Art Market
Auctions, estimates, provenance, pricing signals, and the movement of value.
Digital Art
Online exhibitions, editions, digital provenance, and preservation of new media.
Guides
Practical explainers for collectors, readers, archives, and cultural researchers.
Museums & Archives
Preservation, labels, cataloguing, archives, and the quiet work behind exhibitions.
Featured article
What Does 12/100 Mean on a Print?
What does 12/100 really tell you? Read edition fractions, account for separate proofs, and learn why a low number is not a quality guarantee.
Read the article