Decolonizing Art History: The Geopolitics of Art Attribution

Abstract

This research examines the strategic management of nationality misattribution in Baltic art markets, focusing on how systematic misinformation creates distorted valuation frameworks that require targeted intervention. The study documents the pervasive misattribution practices deployed by Russian institutional actors and analyzes organizational approaches to detecting, countering, and correcting these information distortions. Through comparative analysis of correction campaigns across Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Belarus, the study identifies effective misinformation management protocols that restore attribution integrity. It quantifies how unchallenged misattribution creates compound valuation errors that persist across institutional boundaries, auction platforms, and scholarly publications, requiring coordinated detection and correction mechanisms. The paper develops a misattribution taxonomy that categorizes the severity, persistence, and economic impact of different forms of nationality misrepresentation. It demonstrates how attribution verification technologies, provenance authentication systems, and digital correction protocols can systematically address entrenched misattribution patterns inherited from Soviet information management practices. The research tracking attribution correction initiatives evaluate organizational effectiveness in managing misattribution cascades before they become embedded in market valuations. It suggests evidence-based frameworks for cultural institutions to implement attribution verification standards, misattribution monitoring systems, and correction procedures that preserve market integrity. The study contributes to information management literature by documenting how organized misattribution creates market inefficiencies that require structured intervention. It provides practical guidance for cultural asset managers in implementing attribution verification workflows, misattribution alert systems, and stakeholder education initiatives that build resilience against systematic misinformation. The findings equip cultural organizations with strategic approaches for managing attribution integrity, implementing correction protocols, and measuring misattribution reduction outcomes. The study concludes with governance recommendations for establishing cross-institutional verification standards that detect and correct nationality misattributions across the Baltic cultural ecosystem.