Using machine learning to distinguish between authentic and imitation Jackson Pollock poured paintings: Art images

Jackson Pollock’s abstract poured paintings are celebrated for their striking aesthetic qualities. They are also among the most financially valued and imitated artworks, making them vulnerable to high-profile controversies involving Pollock-like paintings of unknown origin. Given the increased employment of artificial intelligence applications across society, we investigate whether established machine learning techniques can be adopted by the art world to help detect imitation Pollocks. The low number of images compared to typical artificial intelligence projects presents a potential limitation for art-related applications. To address this limitation, we develop a machine learning strategy involving a novel image ingestion method which decomposes the images into sets of multi-scaled tiles. Leveraging the power of transfer learning, this approach distinguishes between authentic and imitation poured artworks with an accuracy of 98.9%. The machine also uses the multi-scaled tiles to generate novel visual aids and interpretational parameters which together facilitate comparisons between the machine’s results and traditional investigations of Pollock’s artistic style.

Methods
The images of the 588 artworks used in our study were acquired in collaboration with The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, The Pollock-Krasner Study Center, The International Foundation for Art Research, and Francis V. O’Connor (chief Pollock connoisseur and co-author of the Catalogue Raissonne). The collection and analysis method of all images complies with the terms and conditions for the sources of the data.

The S1 Table provides a comprehensive list of the image sets. The image sets feature 2 overall categories of artwork - those established as being created by Pollock and those established to be by other artists.