Terms of estate culture.

The body of works and documents left behind by an artist. Beyond the works themselves it often holds sketches, working notes, exhibition records, and correspondence — material that carries connections and points beyond the value of individual pieces.

The systematic record of an artist's entire body of work. For each work it documents at minimum title, dating, material, dimensions, provenance, and exhibition history. A catalogue raisonné serves research, institutions, and the market alike as the point of reference.

The estate of a collector. Its value often lies less in individual objects than in the logic of the collection: in what was bought — and what was not. The history of those decisions is part of the holding.

Working through a holding beyond mere safeguarding: identifying and dating works, forming work groups, documenting contexts. A catalogued holding is not merely present but legible — for family, research, and institutions.

The value of a holding beyond its market value: its capacity to enter larger narratives — art history, regional history, the history of materials, the history of gender. Cultural capital does not arise from a name alone, but through connection, documentation, and comparability.

The photographic or scanned capture of works and documents. Digitisation secures images and makes holdings shareable — but it is not documentation: an image without dating, dimensions, and context remains a depiction, not knowledge.

The structured recording of what is known about a work: title, dating, material, dimensions, condition, provenance, exhibition and literature references. Documentation turns objects into verifiable entries — the precondition for a catalogue raisonné, for research, and for institutional acquisition.

What remains after the death of an artist or a collector: works, drafts, documents, correspondence, photographs, invoices, memories. An estate is not, at first, a curated holding or a finished catalogue raisonné — it is a state of transition that becomes legible only through review and contextualisation.

The first systematic survey of a holding: what is there, in what condition, in which contexts? The initial review does not appraise and does not impose a final order — it establishes the overview on which all later decisions rest.

An unsorted or only loosely grouped holding of works or documents whose inner connections have not yet been established. The term describes a state, not a verdict: a bundle can become work groups — once someone recognises the relationships.

The history of a work's origin and ownership: who owned it when, how it changed hands, where it was shown. Provenance creates trust and attributability — and is often documented in inconspicuous sources: invoices, inscriptions on the reverse, letters, exhibition lists.

A holding that is organised and handed over during the lifetime of its creator. The Vorlass allows what an estate usually lacks: conversation with the person who knows the connections. Datings, attributions, and work histories can be clarified while someone can still answer.

A group of works that belong together by subject, technique, or period — a series, a phase, a body of material. Recognising work groups means understanding the inner order of a holding before an outer order is imposed on it.