What’s the Problem? Attributing Authorship in Australian Art

Professor Robyn Sloggett, University of Melbourne

In this talk, Professor Robyn Sloggett presents an outline of the history of art and cultural heritage crime in Australia. She examines the ways in which scholarship in the humanities, science, and law is used to support studies of attribution, and how economics determines what is at stake in financial terms. While definite figures are difficult to find, it has been proposed that the Australian Indigenous art market is estimated at around $500 million, and that the amount of problematic art in the market is about 10%. These figures are weighed against a very low reporting rate and an even lower rate of prosecution. Robyn looks at these issues and at the current options for dealing with the problem of art fraud in the Australian market.

Professor Robyn Sloggett, University of Melbourne

Professor Robyn Sloggett is The Cripps Foundation Chair in Cultural Materials Conservation, in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies and Director of the Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation, which offers postgraduate programs and a research higher degree program, along with conservation consultancy and treatment programs. An internationally recognised expert in Cultural Materials Conservation, Robyn’s teaching, research, and community-engaged research translation has transformed understanding of interdisciplinary studies in materials and techniques of art, technical art history and art attribution in Australian art; in ethical and philosophical issues in cultural materials conservation; and in community conservation programs, including in partnership with Indigenous communities and with remote, rural and regional organisations across Australia. Robyn’s research interests include attribution and authentication of cultural material, materials conservation in the Asia-Pacific, collection development and history, studies in materials and techniques, and the preservation of cultural material held in regional and remote communities. Robyn has been presented with a number of public, industry and university awards including a Member of the Order of Australia, the AICCM’s Conservator of the Year, ICOM Australia’s Award for International Relations, and most recently the University of Melbourne’s Marles Medal for Excellence in HASS Research Impact 2021.

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