Roy Lichtenstein Foundation Donates $412,000 to Foundation for Artist Catalogues

NEW YORK, NY — The Roy Lichtenstein Foundation announced yesterday that it has made a significant donation of $412,000 to the Foundation for Artist Catalogues (FAC) to further develop its Artifact catalogue raisonné software-as-a-service platform. 

“The Foundation for Artist Catalogues offers a range of services that the Lichtenstein Foundation wanted to fund, leading by example,” said Jack Cowart, Executive Director of the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation.

FAC offers the Artifact platform, which authors, scholars, and cataloguers use to produce born-digital catalogues raisonnés. In addition, the nonprofit offers web development services to publish bespoke websites that meet the unique needs of each artist’s legacy. These born-digital catalogues feature a wealth of knowledge, citing exhibition history, provenance, literature references, and archival information. Artist catalogues are an invaluable resource to art historians, curators, collectors, gallerists, private dealers, law enforcement, and auction houses. FAC hosts over one hundred catalogue projects representing artists across fifteen countries and five continents. Roy Lichtenstein: A Catalogue Raisonné is one of the major artists’ catalogues relying on Artifact. 

Dean Lentz, FAC Executive Director, said “We are deeply grateful for the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation's generous support. This gift materially accelerates our platform development over the next year.” Director of Product Susannah Shepherd noted “our roadmap includes ways to make the platform more accessible to a broader array of scholars and authors, so these funds will also support our goals of ensuring the largest number of users can benefit from Artifact.”

The Foundation for Artist Catalogues is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in New York, founded in 2025 under the direction of Lentz, long-time provider of IT solutions to galleries, artists, museums, and artist foundations. Lentz is joined by Shepherd, co-founder and tech lead for the panOpticon platform, and Bill Braine, a marketer and veteran of Sotheby’s New York and the financial services industry. 

The gift is the first major contribution to FAC’s two-year, $2.5 million seed funding campaign, a significant step in building the financial infrastructure to fulfill its mission of preserving artists’ legacies online long-term. Platform development, community building, catalogue sponsorship, and additional fundraising are under way.

Sharp-Eyed Arts Professionals Help Recover Stolen Eastman Johnson Paintings

September 1, 2026 — When we talk about catalogues raisonnés protecting artists' legacies, this kind of dramatic good news is part of the story.

Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers and Brandon’s Art and Antiques helped recover two stolen paintings missing for 48 years—in part thanks to the Eastman Johnson digital catalogue raisonné. Congratulations to all on the recovery!

Here’s the story from Shannon’s, and additional news coverage.

Sandra Germain, Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers Owner, stands with Eric Baumgartner, Senior Vice President and Director, American Paintings & Sculpture at Hirschl & Adler Galleries, before Eastman Johnson’s “The Young Mother.” Image courtesy Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers.

The Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné, by Patricia Hills and Abigael MacGibeny and stewarded by the National Academy of Design, compiles more than 900 of Johnson’s paintings and more than 400 drawings and prints, organized thematically and catalogued with their titles, dates, media, dimensions, inscriptions, current owners, provenance, exhibition histories, and bibliographies.

The catalogue’s role in the recovery of the stolen works—Mary and Her Lamb and The Young Mother—is a clear demonstration of the protective power of digital catalogues raisonnés. First, the record of its theft was immediately accessible to and shareable by the vigilant professionals who spotted the works in an estate collection. And second, the record can potentially be updated to reflect the works’ recovery—digital publication allows for continuous adjustment as events warrant.

Browse the entire Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné here.

FAC Artists in the News

Ruth Asawa: Retrospective | Guggenheim Bilbao

19 March - 13 September 2026 | "Unfolding across ten sections that span the arc of a six decade-long career, this exhibition traces the full breadth and depth of the innovative practice of an iconic artist."

Beyond Impressionism: Printmaking from Manet to Picasso | Holburne Museum, Bath, UK

23 May 2026 - 13 September 2026 | Exhibition celebrating the resurgence of printmaking from the mid-19th century onwards and incorporating work by Paul Cezanne.

Betty Parsons: An Expanded World | Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

27 June - 18 October, 2026 | The first major retrospective to examine the intertwined legacies of Betty Parsons as both pioneering abstract artist and trailblazing gallerist.

Arshile Gorky: Redrawing Community and Connections | Armenian Museum of America, Watertown, Massachusetts

Through 27 September, 2026 | This exhibition focuses on Gorky’s relationships and sense of community, from his humble beginnings in Watertown as Vostanik Manoug Adoian to his later life as a celebrated artist.