Art Legacy Institute

ALI is an educational and research 501(c)(3) nonprofit concerned with protecting artistic legacy through education, provenance development, research, and the advancement of technological solutions to protect artistic legacy for art and cultural property.  

Mission

Founded by former members of the FBI Art Crime Team, the Art Legacy Institute was created to help artists protect and preserve their legacy through professional cataloging, provenance development, and long-term stewardship of their work.

Through decades spent confronting the realities of the art market firsthand, we saw that artists with well-documented bodies of work possess a significant advantage. A comprehensive record not only strengthens the value of artwork, but also helps define and protect an artist’s legacy for future generations.

Catalogue raisonnés are often created late in an artist’s life—and frequently by individuals with no direct connection to the artist. We set out to change that by building professional cataloging tools that artists can use throughout their careers.

The catalog becomes an active asset: supporting organization, promotion, preservation, and stewardship across a lifetime of work.

Foundation

Our mission rests on three core pillars — areas where we’ve already made critical progress, and where your support will help us go further:

  • Legacy Catalog — Our flagship project. Built with the Amazon Web Services nonprofit team, the Legacy Catalog is nearing completion. It has been developed with industry-standard security at its core and designed by a world-class team to ensure easy adoption by artists. More than a tool, it is a long-term safeguard: simple enough for everyday use, yet robust enough to preserve an artist’s complete body of work. Each catalog is meant to serve the artist during their lifetime and endure as a trusted record for future generations.

  • FeaturePrint — A breakthrough patented technology by Alitheon that creates a digital fingerprint of each artwork. This innovation gives artists, collectors, and institutions a powerful provenance tool — and in 2026, we will roll it out broadly through our platform.

  • Education — We have already taken first steps through interviews and outreach, raising awareness about the need to safeguard artistic legacy. As this mission matures, we will grow a dedicated education program that equips artists, collectors, and the public with tools and knowledge for long-term protection.

Together, these pillars form the foundation of a more trusted art world — one where every artist’s voice is preserved and every legacy endures.