Question: Should artists include a date with their signature?

Dates help capture an artist's progression and development over time. Serious collectors like dates because they help establish the authenticity of a work. Unfortunately, a date in the signature tends to make a painting age over time. While this may be advantageous for antique works, some collectors only want to buy recently completed art from living artists.

One way to deal with these idiosyncrasies is to date artwork on the reverse side of a painting. This allows an artist to preserve a record of his or her work without aging the visual image.