Solutions
For artists, galleries, collectors and museums
Provenance that stays with the work.
Each artwork gets a signed record for its provenance, exhibitions and condition. Curators, conservators and appraisers add what they know under their own names, and the history moves with the work to its next owner.
PROVENANCE
Every owner, sale and exhibition, with its source.
Provenance is the documented history of a work: who made it, who has owned it, where it has been shown and what has been written about it. Gaps and unsupported claims are what make buyers, insurers and museums hesitate.
On Outlast, each entry keeps who added it, when, and what it rests on, such as a bill of sale, a catalogue raisonné entry or an exhibition label. Earlier history can be added with its sources and is marked as added later, so a gap stays visible instead of being papered over.
- Ownership history
- Each sale or gift, with names shared only as far as the parties choose.
- Exhibitions and literature
- Shows, loans and publications, with catalogues and labels attached.
- Attribution and research
- Expert opinions and research notes, each kept with its author.
- Condition and conservation
- Condition reports and treatments, so the next owner knows what was done and why.
RESALE ROYALTIES
When a work is resold, the artist may be owed a share.
In the UK, the EU and Australia, artists have a right to a royalty when their work is resold through the art market. In the UK it applies to resales of £1,000 or more, capped at £12,500 a sale. In Australia it is 5% of resales of $1,000 or more. EU countries set their own threshold, up to €3,000, with rates starting at 4%. There is no general resale royalty in the US.
Galleries, dealers and auction houses report these resales to collecting societies such as DACS in the UK or Copyright Agency in Australia. A clear record of each resale, its date and the parties involved makes that reporting easier and, where owners agree to share it, lets artists and their estates see when a work changes hands.
Outlast records resales. It does not calculate, collect or pay royalties.
LOANS AND CONDITION
Recorded at every move.
When a work travels for an exhibition, the lender, the borrower and the shipper all need the same facts: what left, in what condition, and what came back. Outlast keeps loan records and condition reports with the work, with a tag check at each end.
Curators, conservators and appraisers can be invited to a single work by name. They add their reports under their own names and see only what has been shared with them.
ACCOUNTS AND CONTROL
The artist decides who speaks for the work.
An artist, or their estate, can authorize a gallery to issue records for their work, and an authenticator such as a catalogue raisonné committee to confirm attributions. Nobody else can. Collectors add their own history, but cannot change what the artist issued.
Artists and galleries use the creator plans, from Explore (free) to Studio. Collectors use the collector plans, from Free to Advanced. Checking a tag is always free. See pricing →
- How items count
- Each original, and each tracked piece in an edition, is one record. Sold works stay in the artist’s catalogue and still count there, without using the artist’s own collector allowance.
- Separate services
- Loan, condition and vault records give context. Specialist physical examination is a separate service.
Not yet included: signed temporary custody for loans, estate succession, royalty calculation and lab-based forensic authentication.