The History of ISEN

In 2006, Hossein Farmani established a non for profit organization titled the International Standard for Edition Numbering (ISEN) in the State of California. The established purpose of ISEN was to keep track of artists' editions and the artwork's provenance.

As a photographer, Hossein found keeping track of his own work challenging. He had no records of how his work was produced, who printed it and when, and the numbers in each edition. He wanted to be able to let people know which gallery represented him and in which countries. Like most artists, he dreamed of knowing who currently owned his work, what the last price paid for it was, and it's current whereabouts.

As a major art collector, Hossein enjoyed finding out as much information as possible about an artwork that he waned to acquire or which was already in his collection. Like most collectors he wanted to know how a piece was produced, when and by whom, the edition information, sales records and last condition report. Also, he liked to be able to find artwork he owned, add them to his collections and print catalogues.

As a gallerist, Hossein thought would be useful to have more information about an artwork he was presenting to the collectors and be able to let the world know which artist he represents. He wanted to select the artwork he was exhibitin and easliy print a price list, create a catalog and produce art labels with QR codes. making the work of managing a show as easy as possible.

These are the reasons Hossein began to see the value of something like ISEN. He believed it was necessary for the art world – an online paltform that people can go reasearch the provenence of any piece of art. Where artists could register their artwork for free get an ISEN number, affix it to their artwork for authentication and to establish it's provenence. "Undertaking this monumental task required years of research and the help of many experts which I am very grateful for. I think the next generation will thank us for ensuring the provenance of their future assets" says Hossein Farmani.

ISEN currently has over 35000 members, and continues to grow daily. We hope you also find ISEN a useful and vital part of the international artisitc community.