Your Art Deserves a Record That Lasts

Each artwork record captures the identifying facts of the object. Artists can record any combination of the following:

• Title, creator, and date
• Signature location and description
• Height, width, depth, and diameter
• Media description and physical materials
• Techniques and support or substrate
• Edition number and edition size
• Keywords and descriptive notes
• Inventory numbers — artists who already use their own numbering system can preserve it; the first inventory number is sortable

Artists can describe the work in plain language first, then add structured fields where they help.

Every catalog record begins with an image. Artists can upload multiple images per artwork, including:

• Front views and full documentation photographs
• Detail shots, signature images, and label photographs
• Installation views and in-situ records
• Reverse images and other supporting visual evidence

ALI retains the original uploaded file. Public catalog pages display web-optimized versions rather than full-resolution originals, which artists can download at any time.

When an artist uploads an image to the Legacy Catalog, ALI maintains a date and time stamp. A trustworthy third-party record of when an image was uploaded may become an important reference point if questions ever arise concerning authorship or chronology. The Legacy Catalog is not a substitute for copyright registration, but it can provide a reliable record of when the artwork was documented in the catalog.

Provenance is essential, but it can also be sensitive. The Legacy Catalog separates information that may eventually be shared from information that should remain private. A public-facing provenance line might read “Private Collection,” while the private note preserves the collector’s name, sale details, or other sensitive information.

Artists can also record the life of the work beyond the studio:

• Exhibitions — venue, date, and notable details
• Publications — where the work was discussed, reproduced, or cited
• Awards and honors connected to the work
• Related works, studies, series, and editions
• Albums — group works by series, theme, project, exhibition, or period

When an artist’s CV is entered into the system, exhibitions, publications, and honors can help populate artwork-specific records, reducing duplicate entry and connecting career history to individual works.

Artists and estates decide what becomes visible and when. The Legacy Catalog is designed around control.

• Visibility controls: Each record can be set to public or private. Artists determine which records may be shared and which remain private.
• Always-private records: Certain fields are designated as always private and never appear in public views — current location, private notes, valuation details, sale information, insurance values, condition history, conservation notes, and assessment records.
• Private notes: A separate always-private note field is available on every artwork record.

The artist’s catalog is portable. Records can be exported as CSV or PDF, and images can be downloaded in full-size or web-optimized formats. Artists are never locked into the platform.

Artists can invite trusted collaborators as delegates with controlled levels of access:

• View-only access: Appropriate for conservators reviewing condition notes, galleries viewing specific albums, or researchers needing read access to particular records.
• Full access: Appropriate for studio managers, family members, gallerists, or others helping enter and manage records.

Artists can also designate a legacy contact — the person who should help carry the catalog forward when the artist can no longer manage it. An artist’s catalog should not disappear when the artist is no longer there to maintain it.

Account activity is tracked, particularly when delegates are involved in documentation.

• Search and filter artwork records across the catalog
• Organize works into albums by series, theme, project, exhibition, or period
• Preserve existing studio inventory numbers; the first inventory number is sortable
• Export records as CSV or PDF
• Download images in full-size or web-optimized formats

The catalog is designed to grow with the artist throughout a career — from a first artwork entered to a complete body of work spanning decades.

The Legacy Catalog integrates Getty vocabularies, allowing records to use standardized terminology from the Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT). Artists can describe the work in their own words while also connecting records to the shared language used by museums, scholars, historians, registrars, and conservators.

• Work Type: Classify the object using recognized art vocabulary
• Techniques: Record the methods used to create the work
• Materials: Identify the physical substances used in the artwork
• Support / Substrate: Document the surface or support on which the work was created

ALI continues to develop the Legacy Catalog. Future capabilities currently in planning include:

• Alitheon FeaturePrint Integration Planned · Targeted for 2027
  ALI is planning an integration with Alitheon’s FeaturePrint technology, designed to support object-level continuity and allow historical information to flow into the Legacy Catalog’s provenance record. Early adopters will be well positioned for first access as this integration becomes available.
• Multi-Artist Catalogs Future
  Version One is designed for single-artist catalogs. A future version will support multi-artist catalogs for those managing works across multiple creators.

All items above are identified as future capabilities and are not currently available in the Legacy Catalog.