Artwork list template
An artwork list, or work list, is a table with one row per work: artist, title, year, medium, dimensions in height × width × depth, edition, price or insurance value, and the image file name. It is what captions, price lists, loan forms and insurance schedules are copied from.
Download the template
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If you would like the open calls closing next as well, Collected is a short letter every other Tuesday.
An artwork list is the table everything else is copied from. Captions in a portfolio, a price list at an opening, a loan form, an insurance schedule: each one is a selection of the same columns. Kept once, properly, it saves rewriting the same details for every application.
The columns follow the information museums use to identify an object, as set out in the International Council of Museums' Object ID standard: what it is made of, its measurements, its inscriptions, its title, its date and its maker. Three columns are added for working artists: edition, price or value, and the name of the image file.
How to use it
- Download the spreadsheet (Excel or CSV) for your own records, or the PDF to print and fill in by hand.
- Keep one row per work, and one work per row. Variants or reworked versions get their own row.
- Delete the example row once you have read it. It describes a work that does not exist.
- For an application, copy the rows you are sending and delete the price column in the copy, unless the call asks for prices.
- For an exhibition, the same rows become the gallery's work list, with prices and location filled in.
- Name each image file to match its row. The image file naming guide gives a pattern that works.
The insurance value column is for your own records. How a work should be valued for insurance depends on your insurer and your country; ask them.
The guide to cataloguing your own artwork explains each field in more depth, and why a sale recorded on the day becomes the first link in the work's provenance.
Samlio keeps the same details as one record per work, with the images attached to it. A spreadsheet can be imported with its columns matched to Samlio's fields. In this one, height, width and depth already have a column each, which is what an import needs: 120 × 90 × 3 in a single cell would arrive as one number.
Artwork list
Artist: ______________________________________________
List prepared for: ___________________________________ Date: ______________
Columns
| # | Column | What to write | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No. | The work's position in this list: 01, 02, 03 | 01 |
| 2 | Inventory number | Your own unique code for the work, never reused | 2025.014 |
| 3 | Artist | Your name as you want it cited | Example Artist |
| 4 | Title | As you want it cited, in italics in captions. Untitled plus the inventory number if it has no title | Harbour at Low Water |
| 5 | Year | The year it was finished, as a number. A span if it took several (2023 to 2025). Mark uncertain years with c. | 2025 |
| 6 | Medium | Materials as a label would give them | Oil on linen |
| 7 | Height (cm) | The work unframed, in centimetres, as a number | 120 |
| 8 | Width (cm) | The work unframed, in centimetres, as a number | 90 |
| 9 | Depth (cm) | In centimetres. Leave empty for flat work on paper | 3 |
| 10 | Framed dimensions (h × w × d cm) | Only if it is shown or shipped framed | |
| 11 | Edition | Number over edition size, AP for artist's proofs, unique or blank for one-off works | Unique |
| 12 | Price or insurance value | Amount and currency. Say which it is | 4,800 EUR (price) |
| 13 | Image file name | The exact name of the main image file | ExampleArtist_HarbourAtLowWater_2025_01.jpg |
| 14 | Location | Where the work is now | Studio |
| 15 | Status | Available, sold, on loan, consigned, gifted | Available |
| 16 | Notes | Inscriptions on the back, exhibitions, condition | Signed and dated on verso |
The list
| No. | Inventory number | Artist | Title | Year | Medium | Height (cm) | Width (cm) | Depth (cm) | Framed dimensions (h × w × d cm) | Edition | Price or insurance value | Image file name | Location | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EXAMPLE, fictional work, delete this row | 2025.014 | Example Artist | Harbour at Low Water | 2025 | Oil on linen | 120 | 90 | 3 | Unique | 4,800 EUR (price) | ExampleArtist_HarbourAtLowWater_2025_01.jpg | Studio | Available | Signed and dated on verso | |
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| 15 |
The caption, built from the list
Title, year, medium, dimensions, and edition where there is one:
Harbour at Low Water, 2025, oil on linen, 120 × 90 × 3 cm (example, fictional work)
The insurance value column is for your own records and is not advice on valuation.
From samlio.com/resources/artwork-list-template
Questions people ask
- What is an artwork list?
- A table with one row per work, giving the details needed to identify it: artist, title, year, medium, dimensions and edition, with a price or value and the name of its image file. Galleries call it a work list or checklist; applications, loan forms and insurers all ask for some version of it.
- In what order should dimensions be written?
- Height, then width, then depth, in one unit throughout. European calls and galleries almost always expect centimetres. Measure the work unframed, and record the framed size in its own column if it will be shown or shipped framed.
- How do I write an edition number?
- As the number of the print over the size of the edition: 3/25 is the third of twenty five. Artist's proofs are written AP, often with their own count, such as AP 1/2. A unique work can be left blank or marked unique.
- Should an application include prices?
- Not unless the call asks for them. Keep the price column in your own list and delete it, or hide it, in the copy you send. Exhibitions and sales usually need prices; most open calls and residencies do not.
- Why include the image file name?
- So that each row and its photograph can always be matched, by you and by whoever receives them. When a jury, gallery or printer sees image 04, the work list tells them which work it is.
Sources
- Object ID, International Council of Museums, checked 14 October 2026
- Samlio Collected: How to catalogue your own artwork, and keep it catalogued, checked 14 October 2026
- Samlio Collected: How to put together a portfolio for an open call or grant, checked 14 October 2026