Authenticity in art
Authenticity in art is manifest in the different ways that a work of art, or an artistic performance, can be considered authentic.[1] The initial distinction is between nominal authenticity and expressive authenticity. In the first sense, nominal authenticity is the correct identification of the author of a work of art; of how closely an actor or an actress interprets a role in a stageplay as written by the playwright; of how well a musician's performance of an artistic composition corresponds to the composer's intention; and how closely an objet d’art conforms to the artistic traditions of its genre. In the second sense, expressive authenticity is how much the work of art possesses inherent authority of and about its subject, and how much of the artist's intent is in the work of art.[2]
For the spectator, the listener, and the viewer, the authenticity of experience is an emotion impossible to recapture beyond the first encounter with the work of art in its original setting. In the cases of sculpture and of painting, the contemporary visitor to a museum encounters the work of art displayed in a simulacrum of the original setting for which the artist created the art. To that end, the museum visitor will see a curated presentation of the work of art as an objet d’art, and might not perceive the aesthetic experience inherent to observing the work of art in its original setting — the intent of the artist.[3]
Artistic authenticity is a requirement for the inscription of an artwork to the World Heritage List of the Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation of the United Nations (UNESCO);[4] the Nara Document on Authenticity (1994) stipulates that artistic authenticity can be expressed through the form and design; the materials and substance; the use and function; the traditions and techniques; the location and setting; and the spirit and feeling of the given work of art.[5][6]
Expressive authenticity[edit]
Authenticity of expression derives from the work of art possessing the original and inherent authority of the artist's intent, that the work is an original product of aesthetic expression. In musical performance, authenticity of expression can conflict with authenticity of performance when the performance of the musician or the singer is true to his or her artistry, and is not an imitation of another artist.[2] The greater popularity of the performer, rather than of the composer of the song and the music, is an historically recent development that reflects the public's greater interest in the expressive authenticity of charismatic musicians who possess a distinctive artistic style.[35]
In the fields of art and of aesthetics, the term expressive authenticity derives from the psychological term Authenticity, as used in existential philosophy, regarding mental health as a person's self-knowledge about his or her relation to the real world.[36] In that vein, the artistic production of Abstract Expressionists, such as Jackson Pollock (1912–1956), Arshile Gorky (1904–1948)), and Willem de Kooning (1904–1997), have been understood in existentialist terms about the artists’ relation with and to the world; likewise the cinematic art of the cinéastes Jean-Luc Godard and Ingmar Bergman (1904–1997).[37]
Expressive authenticity derives from the artist's authenticity of style and tradition, thus an outsider's appropriation of voice is disallowed because the cultural group already have native artists producing authentic art.[38] In the American music business, the Hip hop genre originally was musical art created by poor Black people to address their discontents about the poverty, ignorance, and racism imposed upon them in American society. Artists debate if Hip hop's profitable transition from the artistic underground to the commercial mainstream has voided the authenticity of expression of the music.[39] In “Authenticity Within Hip Hop and Other Cultures Threatened with Assimilation”, the academic Kembrew McLeod said that the cultural authenticity of Hip hop is threatened by assimilation into the music business, where commercialism replaces expressive authenticity.[40]
Authenticity in Crypto art[edit]
The genre of crypto art became feasible with blockchain networks of computers (e.g. Bitcoin), cybernetic technology that allows crypto artists to create digital art for sale and for collection.[41] Artists, such as Mike Winkelmann (aka Beeple), use blockchain technology to authenticate a work of art and establish provenance with a digital file permanently linked to the crypto artist who produced the artefact;[42] however, the blockchain technology also allows crypto artists to work anonymously.[43][44] The cybernetic authentication of Non-fungible tokens (NFT) allows collecting works of art that resist forgery, because the provenance of a work of art usually is private information unavailable for public examination.[45][46]