Several months ago I was asked by a client to offer an opinion as to the authenticity of a small ink and watercolour painting on paper, mounted on cardboard. The painting measured approximately 5 x 7 inches and was signed Dove, lower centre. The work was in good condition except for a small water stain on the back, close to a lower corner. My initial suspicion was that the work may have been by the American modernist Arthur Dove (1880–1946) as the similarities between this work and known Dove watercolour sketches were striking.

Dove was known to have completed hundreds of these small 5 x 7 inch watercolour sketches outdoors to record his visual impressions. A large number of these were completed after 1938 when he and his wife moved back to Centerport, Long Island. His health had begun to fail and his sketches allowed him to work outside when he was no longer able to stand at his easel.

The location of the signature and the signature itself are quite typical of Dove, as is the use of black ink line in combination with watercolour. The technique of applying the paint to fill in spaces outlined by black line is also typical of some of Dove’s sketches, as is the technique of not completely blocking in the colour but trailing it off to produce a ragged unfinished edge. This may have been the result of applying a very dry paint medium, without adequate consistency usually achieved by adding the necessary amount of water with the paint block or paint powder.

This work suggests the automatism of André Masson and Joan Miró in its linear abstraction and is technically, compositionally and stylistically very similar to Untitled, a known work by Dove. The colour palette is similar as is the use of black ink line to enclose space: the line has been arabesqued across the picture plane independent of form.

Documentary evidence led me to the Smithsonian Institution, where I was able to access a Master’s thesis, completed circa 1943 by Suzanne Mullett Smith, which included a catalogue raisonné of Dove’s paintings. Mullett Smith’s card file catalogue appears to have been only a partial catalogue and it is entirely plausible that some works, particularly those that were sold or given away early, were not included.

It appears that Suzanne Mullet Smith, while preparing her thesis transferred some of the information from the card file to standard forms supplied to her by the American Art Research Council. As she was unable to secure funding to buy a camera and film to photograph Dove’s works she was obliged to include a small thumbnail sketch to accompany the painting’s description. During transfer of information from the card file to standard form the clarity of her initial sketch may have been compromised.

A review of both the card file and the standard form file identifies a number of sketches which may have a similarity to the one under consideration, however no definitive comparison of sketch to painting, can be made. The closest resemblance between Suzanne Mullett Smith’s description and accompanying sketch and the Dove painting would be to one entitled Neighborly Attempt at Murder, dated 1941, a 5 x 7 inch watercolour and ink on paper, catalogued February 23, 1943.

Unfortunately I had to tell my client that the results of my research were inconclusive, as I have no definitive proof of authorship.

Next: The Case of Dubious Donations