Authenticity in art

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.

[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.

[5][6] The authenticity of provenance of an objet d’art is the positive identification of the artist and the place and time of the artwork's origin;[7] thus, art experts determine authenticity of provenance with four tests: (i) verification of the artist's signature on the work of art; (ii) a review of the historical documentation attesting to the history of the artefact; (iii) scientific evidence (x-rays of the canvas, infrared spectroscopy of the paint, dendrochronological analysis of the wood); and (iv) the expert judgement of a connoisseur with a trained eye.

[10] Consequent to a critically truncated career, the painter Han van Meegeren (1889–1947) earned his living as an art forger, by specifically producing fake paintings of 17th-century artists, such as Frans Hals (1582–1666) and Pieter de Hooch (1629–1684), Gerard ter Borch (1617–1681) and Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675).

[14][15] The potential monetary value represented by a certificate of authenticity can prejudice collectors and art dealers to buy recent-period artworks with determined provenance, sometimes established by the artist.

[23] In the essay “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” (1935), Walter Benjamin discussed the then-new visual media of photography and cinematography as machines capable of producing art that can be reproduced many times — yet no one version of the image is the original, artistically authentic image.

Recognizing that authenticity of experience is unique and cannot be recaptured, the curator of a museum presents works of art in literal and metaphoric displays that approximate the original settings for which the artists created the artworks.

Realised with artifice and lighting, the museum displays provide the spectator a sensory experience of the works of art.

Concern with the cultural authenticity of a work of art usually originates from romanticism about the greater artistic value of artefacts created in “the pure tradition” of the genre; such an idealistic perspective usually derives from nationalism and racism and tribalism, and misunderstandings of aesthetics.

[27] A work of art is authentic when executed in the style, with the materials, and by the production process that are essential attributes of the genre.

[28] In the West, the market for “primitive art” arose and developed at the end of the 19th century, consequent to European explorers and colonialists meeting and trading with the cultural and ethnic groups of Africa, Asia, and Oceania.

Artistically, the native peoples who dealt with the explorers and colonists quickly incorporated to their production of art new materials from Europe, such as cloth and glass beads.

[29] The 19th-century business model of artistic production remains the contemporary practise in selling authentic objets d’art to Western collectors and aficionados.

Usually, the artefacts are designed and modified to give the impression of possessing popular attributes and authentic provenance, such as religious-ritual use, antiquity, and association with aristocracy and royalty.

[2] From that perspective, “tribal masks and sculptures” actually used in religious ceremonies have greater commodity value, especially if authenticity of provenance determines that a native artist created the artefact by using traditional designs, materials, and production techniques.

[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).

The philosophers of authenticity : Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir at the memorial to Honoré de Balzac .
Authenticity of provenance: The Yellow Dragon jar from the Jiajing period (1521–1567) of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644); a practical item in the 16th-century, and an objet d’art in the 21st century.
The art of forgery: The Supper at Emmaus (1937), by Han van Meegeren, a Dutch master forger who deceived the Nazi leader H. Göring that the painting was a genuine Vermeer painting.
Mechanical reproduction of art: Facsimile of a 1611 woodcut of the Renaissance French composer Josquin des Prez (1450–1521) copied from an oil painting, the authentic work of art. [ 22 ]
The authenticity of experience of a work of art is ephemeral; thus, beholding the statue of the Hindu goddess Tara (Sri Lanka, 8th c.) in a secular setting (a museum) is unlike the aesthetic experience of beholding the statue-as-goddess in the original setting (a temple).
Cultural authenticity: A Haitian Vodou fetish statue of a devil with twelve eyes.
Cultural authenticity: A carved-wood bulul is a stylized representation of an ancestor that gains power from the presence of an ancestral spirit. Dating from the 15th century, bulul figurines guarded the community's rice crop, feature in traditional ceremonies, and are souvenirs sold to tourists to the Philippine Islands.
Authenticity of performance: A Baroque music ensemble playing Baroque period instruments, using period techniques, whilst dressed in contemporary garb.