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Art: Authenticity, Restoration, Forgery UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press Title Art: Authenticity, Restoration, Forgery Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5xf6b5zd ISBN 978-1-938770-08-1 Author Scott, David A. Publication Date 2016-12-01 Data Availability The data associated with this publication are within the manuscript. Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California READ ONLY/NO DOWNLOADS Art: Art: Authenticity, Restoration, ForgeryRestoration, Authenticity, Art: Forgery Authenticity, Restoration, Forgery David A. Scott his book presents a detailed account of authenticity in the visual arts from the Palaeolithic to the postmodern. The restoration of works Tof art can alter the perception of authenticity, and may result in the creation of fakes and forgeries. These interactions set the stage for the subject of this book, which initially examines the conservation perspective, then continues with a detailed discussion of what “authenticity” means, and the philosophical background. Included are several case studies that discuss conceptual, aesthetic, and material authenticity of ancient and modern art in the context of restoration and forgery. • Scott Above: An artwork created by the author as a conceptual appropriation of the original Egyptian faience objects. Do these copies possess the same intangible authenticity as the originals? Photograph by David A. Scott On front cover: Cast of author’s hand with Roman mask. Photograph by David A. Scott MLKRJBKQ> AO@E>BLILDF@> 35 MLKRJBKQ> AO@E>BLILDF@> 35 CLQPBK IKPQFQRQB LC AO@E>BLILDV POBPP CLQPBK IKPQFQRQB LC AO@E>BLILDV POBPP CIoA Press READ ONLY/NO DOWNLOADS Art: Authenticity, Restoration, Forgery READ ONLY/NO DOWNLOADS READ ONLY/NO DOWNLOADS Art: Authenticity, Restoration, Forgery David A. Scott MLKRJBKQ> AO@E>BLILDF@> 35 CLCOQPBKTSEN IKPQFQRQB INSTITUTE LC AO@E>BLILDVOF ARCHAEOLO POBPPGY PRESS Monumenta Archaeologica READ ONLY/NO DOWNLOADS THE COTSEN INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY PRESS is the publishing unit of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA. The Cotsen Institute is a premier research organization dedicated to the creation, dissemination, and conservation of archaeological knowledge and heritage. It is home to both the Interdepartmental Archaeology Graduate Program and the UCLA/Getty Master’s Program in the Conservation of Archaeological and Ethno- graphic Materials. The Cotsen Institute provides a forum for innovative faculty research, graduate education, and public programs at UCLA in an effort to positively impact the academic, local, and global communities. Established in 1973, the Cotsen Institute is at the forefront of archaeological research, education, conservation, and publication and is an active contributor to interdisciplinary research at UCLA. THE COTSEN INSTITUTE PRESS specializes in producing high-quality archaeological publications in nine dif- ferent series, including Monumenta Archaeologica, Monographs, World Heritage and Monuments, Cotsen Advanced Seminars, and Ideas, Debates, and Perspectives. Through a generous endowment by Lloyd E. Cotsen, longtime Institute volunteer and benefactor, the Press makes the fruits of archaeological research accessible to scholars, professionals, students, and the general public. Our archaeological publications receive critical acclaim among both academic communities and the public at large. THE COTSEN INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY PRESS at UCLA Willeke Wendrich, Director Aaron A. Burke, Editor-in-Chief Randi Danforth, Publications Director Deidre Whitmore, Director of the Digital Archaeology Lab EDITORIAL BOARD Willeke Wendrich Africa (Ex officio member) Lothar von Falkenhausen East Asia Sarah P. Morris Mediterranean Basin John K. Papadopoulos Mediterranean Basin Jeanne E. Arnold North America–Pacific Coast Gregson Schachner North America–Southwest Charles Stanish South America–Andes Richard G. Lesure South America–Mesoamerica Aaron A. Burke West Asia–Near East Randi Danforth Ex officio member Edited by Peg Goldstein Designed by Sally Boylan Cover concept and photo illustration by David A. Scott Cover design by Sally Boylan Index by Matthew White Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Scott, David A., 1948- author. Title: Art : authenticity, restoration, forgery / David A. Scott. Description: Los Angeles : Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016011510 | ISBN 9781938770081 (paperback) ISBN 978-1-938770-41-8 (eBook) Subjects: LCSH: Art--Conservation and restoration. | Art--Forgeries. | Authenticity (Philosophy) Classification: LCC N8555 .S36 2016 | DDC 702.8--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016011510 Copyright ©2016 Regents of the University of California All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America READ ONLY/NO DOWNLOADS This volume is dedicated to the Scott family and especially to my wife, Lesley Ann Moorcroft, who has lived through many years and travails with the author, too many to name, but also many very happy memories. READ ONLY/NO DOWNLOADS READ ONLY/NO DOWNLOADS Contents Preface ix Acknowledgments xi List of Illustrations xiii Chapter 1 Authenticity and Conservation: An Introduction 1 Chapter 2 The Cult of Authenticity 35 Chapter 3 Authenticity, Monuments, and the International Charters 95 Chapter 4 Different Approaches to Authenticity 121 Chapter 5 The Ancient Old World 161 Chapter 6 The Ethnographic and the Authentic 223 Chapter 7 Considerations of Medieval Authenticity 273 Chapter 8 The European Renaissance and Beyond 295 READ ONLY/NO DOWNLOADS Contents Chapter 9 From the Baroque to the Early Twentieth Century 355 Chapter 10 The Modern, Postmodern, and Contemporary 373 Chapter 11 Some Final Thoughts and Reflections 415 Glossary of Terms 425 References Cited 435 Index 479 viii READ ONLY/NO DOWNLOADS Preface Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new film, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conservation, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concerning your thievery— celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: it’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to. —Jim Jarmusch, MovieMaker, June 5, 2013 his quotation from Jim Jarmusch across many fields of scholarly inquiry be- encompasses some of the cacoph- come. Not only does the concept of au- Tony of voices and sources, media, thenticity have multiple dimensions to be opinions, and self-justificatory statements discovered, but the hermeneutics of engage- concerning authenticity that this book seeks ment with it are in serious need of transdisci- to explore. The celebration of authenticity plinary discussion. as a contested field of enquiry, one that has One of the aims of this book is to unravel been well trodden, picked over, and plowed these terms of engagement across the regions up, has led to modern anxiety concerning of philosophy, art restoration, aesthetics, con- authenticity in the twenty-first century and servation theory, and art history in the hope whether it really exists. that multiple reflections from each field will The deeper one excavates the foundations illuminate the complex territory in new and of authenticity, the richer the interactions exciting ways. ix READ ONLY/NO DOWNLOADS Preface Readers will notice that several areas of how authenticity is defined and applied to cultural life, such as literature and music, the works in question. They also present a are either underrepresented in this book or foil for philosophical debate on the nature of not covered at all. This book studies the vi- forgery and its relationships to replicas, cop- sual arts and authenticity, not literature or ies, or the real. Restoration of works of art music and authenticity, about which there is is capable, in itself, of creating inauthentic already an extensive and rapidly expanding fabrications whose disputed nature is further body of literature. The structural dissonance proof of our interest and engagement with between art conservation and the art histori- what we consider to be authentic or not, and cal discourse has been under attack for some the question of whether authenticity is better time, particularly in the sector of contem- served by our thinking of it in terms of ma- porary art, where a ménage à trois between terial authenticity, conceptual authenticity, conservator, artist, and curator has become historical authenticity, or aesthetic authentic- increasingly important for the survival of ity. Intellectual arguments concerning these the artwork. In a more general context, the types of questions are fascinating proof of the impact of past and present art restoration relevancy and vitality of authenticity in all of programs and the ways these impinge on its various manifestations. the interpretation of artwork have been only The author learned much during the re- sporadically explored. search for this book, and in that process came This book strives to integrate these con- to admire several authors whose work is quot- cerns into a dialogue concerning authentic- ed or discussed in the text, and who now seem ity in the visual arts as a legitimate subject like old friends or intellectual companions.
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