The National Museum will conduct laboratory tests on a collection of works purportedly by HR Ocampo to determine their authenticity.

Last week leading art collectors and lovers earlier expressed doubts about the genuineness of the works despite the fact they had been authenticated by a relative of the late National Artist for the Visual Arts.

The works are on display at Greenbelt 5 in an exhibit organized by the spouse of a former high-ranking government official.

Guests in the exhibit opening alerted leading culture figures who then trooped to Greenbelt to check out the collection. Most of them shared the belief that the works were of dubious origin.

To the credit of the collector, s/he readily agreed to have the works undergo laboratory tests.

Just recently, the Friends of Manansala, an organization of art lovers and collectors of National Artist for Visual Arts Vicente Silva Manansala’s art production, sought the removal of an artwork called “The Bird Seller” from an auction catalogue of Christie’s-Hong Kong.

Loren pushes for art registry

THUMBS UP

Because of the Christie’s incident, Sen. Loren Legarda has sought the creation of a National Registry for Fine Art that will chronicle existing Filipino artworks and guard against the production, proliferation and sale of their forgeries.

Legarda, chair of the Senate Committee on Cultural Communities, has filed Senate Resolution No. 803, which directs the Senate Committee on Education, Arts and Culture to strengthen the Philippine Registry of Cultural Property by creating a National Registry for Fine Art.

The senator said she encourages living artists to register their artworks in the proposed National Registry for Fine Arts through the Philippine Registry of Cultural Property to provide information and reference on the provenance of important works.