Art Authenticator IFAR to Cease Operations

The International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR) has announced that it is shutting down after fifty-five years in business. The New York–based nonprofit offered impartial authentication and provenance research services, and additionally published the quarterlyIFAR Journal, hosted archives and databases including the Catalogues Raisonnés Database and the Art Law & Cultural Property Database; and organized programs around topics including art trafficking, cultural heritage, and museum security. IFAR will immediately cease publication of its journal and will end its event program. The organization is looking to rehome its archives and databases and will conclude its current research projects.

IFAR’s closure comes after its new director, Lindsey Schneider—who took the reins from longtime leader Sharon Flescher—performed a six-month assessment of the foundation’s activities and finances and concluded that the operation was no longer feasible.

“Since our inception in 1969, IFAR has been dedicated to advocating for the rightful ownership of cultural heritage, promoting transparency in the art market, and ensuring that works of art are recognized for their true origins and histories. Our efforts have sparked important conversations, driven meaningful change, and supported numerous initiatives that honor the integrity of artistic and cultural objects,” said board chair Jennifer Schipf in a statement. “The board brought on a new executive director to help us chart the optimal future for IFAR, and, ultimately, her insights and analyses made it clear to us all that the best course of action is to wind down.”

Among the authentication cases IFAR has been involved in are the Knoedler forgery scandal of 1994–2011, which saw the gallery sell dozens of fake Abstract Expressionist works said to have been by artists including Robert Motherwell and Mark Rothko, but which had actually been painted in a Queens garage; and a 2017 scam in which forged Jackson Pollock works were foisted on unsophisticated buyers.

IFAR is expected to have wrapped operations by mid-2025.