For Art Lawyers

SAFA has worked with a number of prominent law firms to resolve questions relating to art sales, including those of attribution, provenance, state of preservation, insurance disputes, tax disputes, and title disputes.  Dr. Mass has served as an expert witness on several occasions, and obtained positive outcomes based on her reputation as a leading scientist in the field, the rigorous nature of SAFA’s research and reports, and the ease with which she can explain and defend her findings. She has also partnered with Leila Amineddoleh of Amineddoleh and Associates for several art law and forensic science educational initiatives, including a program for the Harvard Business School Alumni Association. Dr. Mass is a regular lecturer for Judith Prowda’s Sotheby’s Institute art law class, and has also lectured on forensic analysis at the Christie’s M.A. Program for Art, Law, and Business.  She is a co-author of the Authentication in Art Complete Technical Art History Reference Work, and was a co-author of the forensic science guidelines for the Netherlands Court of Arbitration for Art.

As the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Cultural Heritage Science at the Bard Graduate Center, Dr. Mass has extensive experience explaining scientific concepts to non-scientists. She authored a book chapter for the Provenance Research Handbook for Judge Arthur Tompkins (District Court Judge, New Zealand), “Forensic Science and Provenance Research:  Using Forensic Science to Resolve Questions of Provenance, Identity, and False Attribution”, due out from Lund Humphries in Fall of 2018.  She also co-edited the standard reference work on x-ray fluorescence as it is applied to cultural heritage, Handheld XRF for Art and Archaeology. These contributions to the field, plus her over twenty years of experience as a cultural heritage scientist at leading museums and universities, and her scientific credentials, has made her an invaluable resource for art lawyers on a wide range of materials identification questions.