Lies That Bring Us Closer to Truths:
The Concept of ‘Truths’, ‘Originality’ and ‘(Staged) Authenticity’
in Various Case Studies
Eleonora Mol 10298584
Master Thesis
MA Literary Studies: Comparative Literature Supervisor: Jeff Diamanti
“We all know that Art is not truth. Art is
a lie that makes us realise truth at least
the truth that is given us to understand.
The artist must know the manner
whereby to convince others of the
truthfulness of his lies.” – Pablo Picasso
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Contents
Introduction ...4
Structure of the Thesis...8
Chapter 1: Abstract Art, Media Influence, and Versions of the Truth ...10
1.1 Pablo Picasso’s The Weeping Woman ...11
1.2 What Is Art If “A Child Could Paint That!”?...15
Chapter 2: Taking Inspiration From, Or Simply Copying? ...21
2.1 Empfhangshalle’s Exhibition The Benjamin Project ...22
2.2 Van Gogh As Composer ...25
2.3 The Louvre, Unexpected: Situated in Abu Dhabi ...28
2.3.1 The Louvre In Terms Of ‘Superfluity’ or ‘Any-Space-Whatever’ ...30
2.3.2. Paleis Het Loo: Authenticity and Heritage ...32
Chapter 3: Corporate Art Collections and Their Search for Authenticity ...35
3.1 A Distinctive Player: Netherlands Association of Corporate Art Collections ...36
3.2 Acquiring a Certain Position Within The Art Scene: De Nederlandsche Bank ...38
Conclusion ...42
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Abstract
In this thesis, I aim to investigate the meanings and paradoxical roles of originality and authenticity as they pertain to the art world. I will undertake close readings of various objects including Pablo Picasso’s “The Weeping Woman” (1937); the documentary "My Kid Could Paint That" by Amir Bar Lev (2007); “The Benjamin Project” (2009/10), an exhibition initiated by artist duo Empfhangshalle; Millet's influence on Vincent van Gogh; and the Abu Dhabi Louvre. In addition, I will delve into the function of corporate art collections in the Netherlands, represented by the Netherlands Association of Corporate Art Collections and focus on the art collection of De Nederlandsche Bank. This thesis reviews the concept of ‘truths’, as emerging both from within these objects’ formal and thematic concerns, as well as how these immanent forms of originality impose on them externally. I aim to locate these different, controversial objects within the contemporary art world. Furthermore, I am concerned with what role media plays in relation to these objects, and investigate the concept of authenticity and originality.
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Introduction
All truths are questionable and allow us to create our interpretations of, and relations to them. Paul Auster’s detective novel City of Glass (1985) for instance, which served as a starting point and inspiration for my writing, explores the theme of identity and truthfulness by creating an insoluble mystery revolving around different characters whose existence may or may not be real. Its main character, the protagonist Daniel Quinn, is a detective struggling to find his identity. Auster uses different layers of perspective and time to blur the thin line between reality and fiction as he introduces questionable narrators who may not exist into the story. Chapter 12 for instance, begins in a rather dubious time frame: “the account of this period [weeks certainly, but perhaps even months] is less full than the author would have liked” (Auster 150). The identity of the author is unclear. Is it Paul Auster himself, or the 'author' in the text? Is that the same person as 'he' mentions in “But information is so scarce, and he has preferred to…” ( Auster 150) Fiction thus works on multiple levels within the novel.
Auster creates a pattern of constant complexity via layers of perspective. He uses this to emphasise the various authors: the ‘actual’ author – himself, the author in the story, and the author who serves as narrator. His use of ‘we’ in “We cannot say for certain what happened to Quinn…” (Auster 150), might lead us to assume that he aims to create unity with the reader. In fact, it only highlights the unknown identity of the ‘we’. Presumably, the reader might be included, thereby playing a part in the story. However, the narrator is unreliable and does not answer the question of who the ‘we’ is, or whom it includes. Only the reader can decide this. Indeed, the narrator has “preferred to pass over in silence what could not be definitely confirmed” (Auster 150). Here, the 'silence' has a double meaning: the author is silent regarding what he was unable to confirm about the story. This implies that the author cannot be completely trusted by the reader. By withholding information, Auster misleads the reader in trusting a specific narrator. By using the phrase 'in silence', Auster states that he has no information. Therefore why mention it at all? The narrator “feels it is his duty not to overstep the bounds of the verifiable” (Auster 150), thus accentuating the divine between true/untrue and underlining the limits to what can be verified in the novel. Additionally “at this point in the story” may also imply that the narrator is stating facts indeed, or simply fictionally narrating.
The theme of time is very present in this passage, emphasising the novel’s different perspectives. “A long time passed” (Auster 150), “Weeks certainly, but perhaps even months” (Auster 150), and “The account of this period...” (Auster 150) emphasise the duration of the
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story and in particular Quinn's. The repetition of time-related words, 'time', 'weeks', 'months' and 'period' demonstrates the importance of the temporal to the story. The reader can visualise time passing, even though it is unclear exactly how much has passed. Auster creates an expanded timeline to underscore the importance of time in which Quinn adapts to his presumable 'new life'. This provides the reader with a new notion of time and effectively creates a new perspective – the perspective of time. Auster uses this to elaborate on the importance of time in reality, something we cannot escape from, even in fiction. Moreover, time revolves around the story as it characterises Quinn's development. Hence, the numerous 'authors' are not only differentiated in character, but also in timespan. Indeed, in City of Glass, different perspectives are present, including those of several authors and time periods, to create a fusion of reality and fiction. That being the case, readers absorb the text from different points of view and angles of time, allowing them to create a personal interpretation and relationship with the story and the characters. Consequently, there is no finite 'truth' to the text, but only the truth as the reader interprets it. Perhaps nothing was real. Perhaps it was all a story based on lies, which led me to start investigating ‘truths’ and the true/false accounts in the various case studies in this thesis.
We investigate truths from own realities and familiar circumstances, which make it difficult for us to broaden our perspectives. To elucidate, here is a short anecdote about Picasso:
Picasso is on the train from Paris to Mougin and in the same compartment, opposite from him, is a chic lady of age who recognizes him. She greets him and immediately expresses great admiration for his excellent painting. Then, frankly, she says that she is particularly impressed by him but has great difficulty in experiencing something beautiful about those strange, distorted faces and other abstract canvases. She asks him if he can actually paint something realistically. Picasso answers that he does not understand what she means. “Well, just take a look at my daughter”, the lady says, as she takes a photo from her wallet and hands it over to the painter. “Can you paint this, exactly the way she looks?” “So,” Picasso answers. “Is this your daughter?”. “Yes, she is!” The lady answers, eagerly. “Gosh, she is so small and flat!”, Picasso remarks, with a grin on the face.1
As this anecdote demonstrates, representation or not, everything, in reality, has its own truth. The anecdote comes from Gregory and Mary Catherine Bateson’s book, Angels Fear; Towards an Epistemology of the Sacred (1987) in which they write:
1 Bateson, Gegory and Bateson, Mary Catherine. Angel Fear; Towards an Epistemology of the
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“Structure” is always a somewhat flattened, abstracted version of “truth” - but structure is all we can know. The map is never the territory, but it is sometimes useful to discuss how map differs from hypothetical territory. That is as near as we can get to the ineffable, the unsayable. In the cadence of Lewis Carroll: always territory tomorrow, never territory today. (161)
On that note, ‘truth’ is abstract in all senses of the world. Within art, truth is something ungraspable, abstract. As truth is often linked with originality, that truth is at stake when looking at (abstract) art. I will examine several objects, detailed below in “Structure of the Thesis”, to shed light on contemporary issues of originality, for example, related to various influences that challenge authenticity. By taking various art forms and representatives, I aim to elucidate the relationship between artwork, artist and observer. I will discuss the mimetic qualities of art by bringing the notion of reproduction/copying, (staged) authenticity and the role of media into the equation.
Picasso once said that “Art is a lie that brings us nearer to the truth.” This is primarily a question of individuality and the personality of the artist more than it is a clarification of the artist’s work. It says more about the man than about his work. How does Picasso’s paradox open up critical space for thinking about originality and authenticity in contemporary cultural production? Statements and/or aphorisms have their own nature and character and in many cases, they tend to absolutise an attitude to reality or assumed truth. In the case of Picasso, one might say that his remark is rather scratchy, very pronounced, yet provocative, which is why it is very attackable. Thinking critically we can also interpret his statement as vulnerable and sensitive. Undoubtedly, he wants to ‘sensitise’ us to art and make us wonder, what is truth?
In principle, an artist’s statement explains little or nothing about the power, the capacity and the potential of their work. Yet a statement such as Picasso’s runs parallel to the ‘nature’ of his work, in terms of intentions, outlines and characteristics. Some people will react negatively to his statement, especially those who are also bothered by the woman’s nose being situated to the side in her portrait, rather than in front, where it ‘should’ be.2 They will see art as a lie. Picasso paints us thought as ‘image’, an image where energy is constantly being sparked by a tension between life and art, two proportional values that go hand in hand to define something about our truth. Every painting then helps us add a little depth to reality. In other words, it does not matter whether a painting, in a direct sense, represents reality. What matters first and foremost is the painting itself, knowing its ‘personality’. By observing it, the
2
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painting gives us more ‘profile’ with which we can enrich ourselves, coming closer to (our) truth.
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Structure of the Thesis
In this thesis, I will elucidate several case studies in order to shed light on the concept of authenticity and originality. In my first chapter “Abstract Art, Media Influence, and Versions of the Truth”, Pablo Picasso has unintentionally personified a red thread throughout my thesis. Following the anecdote introduced above, I will examine his 1937 painting The Weeping Woman. This painting resulted from the mimicry of existing statues and paintings of the Mater Dolorosa, as well as from Picasso’s earlier works. It is relevant to my study due to its shifts in form, perspective and the way it plays with asymmetry. In other words, Picasso manipulates various perceptions of (his own) truth. Cubism’s distinctive intervention is problematic for concepts of originality and authenticity, especially within representation and observation.
The 2007 documentary My Kid Could Paint That, directed by Ami Bar-Lev, questions the controversial topic of authenticity. Its subject is the so-called child prodigy, Marla Olmstead. The media plays an evident part in the 4-year-old’s sudden success. Bar-Lev also questions her parents’ intentions and influence. This documentary sheds light on the controversy surrounding Marla Olmstead. Is what she produces art, or has it gained this label as a result of a clever media marketing stunt?
To examine reproduction/copying within the artwork, I focus on three instances of copying in my second chapter, “Taking Inspiration From, Or Simply Copying”. These include the 2009/10 exhibition The Benjamin Project, by German artist duo Empfhangshalle, Corbian Böhm, Michael Gruber and Thomas Abebahrfo. This exhibition takes Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (1935) as its starting point. It draws connections between Benjamin’s essay and the practices of the infamous Dafen village in Shenzen, China, which produces copies of works by renowned artists such as Vincent van Gogh on a massive scale. It could be argued that van Gogh’s paintings, especially those inspired by Millet, are ‘copies’ of one another. Yet from another perspective, originality never exists. We all gain inspiration from one another.
To shed light on the issue of originality, I will analyse the Louvre Abu Dhabi, which recently opened its doors to the public. As The Louvre Abu Dhabi is officially a ‘leased’ brand, this will make an interesting, controversial discussion. I will next analyse Paleis het Loo, currently shut for renovation, in relation to (staged) authenticity. If we consider the Dutch expression
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“beter goed gejat dan slecht bedacht3”, the meaning of originality may be challenged in the
art world, which I aim to show with these various objects.
In my last chapter, the emphasis is placed on the function and meaning of corporate art collections. In looking at the Netherlands Association of Corporate Art Collections, I will examine its mission, aims and the role it plays in the contemporary Dutch art world. In focusing on De Nederlandsche Bank, I aim to situate corporate art collections in the current art scene and doing so, to answer the following questions. What is originality and what is the value of authenticity? What roles do fakes, copies and (staged) authenticity play in the art world today? Is there a difference between copying and taking inspiration from another artist, or institution? And lastly, how do collections (try to) project a certain image, especially corporate collections?
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Chapter 1: Abstract Art, Media Influence, and Versions of the Truth
In this chapter, I will discuss Pablo Picasso’s The Weeping Woman (1937), starting from the anecdote about the woman in the train quoted above my introduction. Throughout my analysis, distorted versions of the truth serve as a motif. The Weeping Woman embodies clear elements of Cubism, as well as forms of realism, highlighted by the use of asymmetry, colours and spin on ‘truth’. I will then focus on Amir Bar-Lev’s documentary My Kid Could Paint That (2007) which introduces controversial questions about what defines art, the influence of media within art criticism and the authenticity of an artist’s skill.
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1.1 Pablo Picasso’s The Weeping Woman
Figure 1: Pablo Picasso, The Weeping Woman, 1937, oil on canvas, 60 x 49 cm, Tate Modern, London.
Picasso is known to have taken inspiration from Our Lady of Sorrows (Mater Dolorosa) when creating The Weeping Woman. The painting represents Picasso's anti-war position, catalysed in his work Guernica (1937, Reina Sofia, Madrid). In Life with Picasso (2011), Françoise Gilot and Carlton Lake quote Picasso:
An artist isn’t as free as he sometimes appears. It’s the same with the portraits I’ve done of Dora Maar. For me she’s the weeping woman. For years I’ve painted her in tortured forms, not through sadism, and not with pleasure, either; just obeying a vision that forced itself on me. It was the deep reality, not the superficial one… Dora, for me, was always a weeping woman… And it’s important, because women are suffering machines. (Gilot 116)
Here Picasso highlights that for him, Dora Maar is whom he portrays as the weeping woman. In The Religious Art of Pablo Picasso (2014), Jane Daggett Dillenberger explains the origins of the Mater Dolorosa, as a common devotion for Catholics including
1. the prophecy of Simeon, 2. the flight into Egypt, 3. Jesus as a child being left behind at the temple, 4. Mary meets Jesus on the way to Calvary 5. Jesus dies on the cross, 6.
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Mary receives his body from the cross, and 7. the body of Jesus is placed in the tomb. (89)
Picasso’s paintings are not necessarily considered Catholic, nor do they show evident theological subject matter, unless viewers choose to interpret them that way. Inspired by the Mater Dolorosa The Weeping Woman represents, through her tears, the people’s suffering during the Spanish Civil war. In her BBC broadcast “The Story of a painting that fought fascism” (2017), Fiona Macdonald states that:
While painting, to combat rumours that he supported the Nationalists, Picasso issued a statement: “In the panel on which I am working, which I shall call Guernica, and in all my recent works of art, I clearly express my abhorrence of the military caste which has sunk Spain in an ocean of pain and death”4.
The paradox of Picasso’s statement “Art is a lie that brings us nearer to the truth” becomes formalised in The Weeping Woman in which he shifts form, perspective and plays with asymmetry. Cubism's intervention into mimesis in 20th century art created enduring problems at the heart of notions of originality and authenticity. It splits them open so that they begin to refer to the idea of the thing represented (The Weeping Woman) versus the thing itself (a woman’s portrait). The question of novelty or progress in art history (from impressionism to abstract expressionism to cubism) itself begins to fray (the teleology of art history), leading to the postmodern turn in looking at the historical evolution of art, as described by Joseph Schillinger in The Mathematical Basis of Arts (1948).
In his theory of characteristics of art, Gregory Bateson claims that art is about cultural and psychological systems. Bateson bridges the gap between the characteristics of art and the characteristics of the rest of the culture. He emphasises the interaction between artworks and culture and states that they exist only within culture 5 . Art cannot stand alone. Representationalism, he writes, is relevant to a certain extent in artworks because they use a code6 “The code whereby perceived objects or persons (or supernaturals) are transformed into wood or paint is a source of information about the artist and his culture” (Bateson 1999; 130). Bateson does not try to ‘decode’ the message to find a specific meaning but aims to uncover the meaning of the chosen code. Meaning, he writes,
4Macdonald, Fiona. “Culture – The Story of a Painting That Fought Fascism.” BBC News, BBC, 6 feb.
5 Bateson, Gregory. “Style, Grace and Information in Primitive Art”. Steps to an Ecology of Mind:
Collected Essays in Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution and Epistemology. University of Chicago
press., 1999. p. 132. 6Ibid, p. 130.
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may be regarded as an approximate synonym of pattern, redundancy, information, and “restraint,” within a paradigm of the following sort: Any aggregate of events or objects (e.g. a sequence of phonemes, a painting, or a frog, or a culture) shall be said to contain “redundancy” or “pattern” if the aggregate can be divided in any way by a “slash mark”, such that an observer perceiving only what is on one side of the slash mark can guess, with better than random success, what is on the other side of the slash mark. We may say that what is on one side of the slash contains information or has meaning about
what is on the other side. (Bateson 1999; 130).
In other words, there is a kind of probability, or ‘redundancy’7. We can guess what something might be with the information that is already given, enabled through communication, “the essence and raison d’être of communication is the creation of redundancy, meaning, pattern, predictability, information, and/or the reduction of the random by ‘restraint’” (Bateson 131-132). Bateson uses a diagram to make his point clear and to represent characteristics of art objects and what or how it represents meaning. I will try to ‘oversimply’ (Bateson 1999; 131) and elucidate perceptions of The Weeping Woman using Bateson’s diagram. This is necessary to put into words the process of interpretation (of a painting) and how meaning is derived from it.
[Characteristic, of art object/Characteristics of rest of culture] 8
Bateson's diagram demonstrates the importance of having a “conceptual system” (199; 132) that will enable and
force us to see the ‘message’ (.e.g the art object) as both itself internally patterned and itself a part of a larger patterned universe—the culture or some part of it. The characteristics of objects of art are believed to be about, or to be partly derived from, or determined by, other characteristics of cultural and psychological systems. (1999; 131)
Bateson explains that the brackets “enclose the universe of relevance, and where the oblique stroke represent a slash across which some guessing is possible” (1999; 132). If applied to The Weeping Woman, the diagram could look something like this:
[A woman’s portrait/Perception of a Catholic figure “Mater Dolorosa”]
7 Ibid, p. 130.
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The portrait itself is coded, in a sense, and to the right of the slash, we can see what it represents, the catholic narrative as introduced earlier in this section. Can we derive meaning from the audience’s perspective, and, most pertinently, can I assume my perception is the same as the one from others? No, which is exactly one of the problems that arise from finding a universal ‘meaning’, which, in its turn, will not be found. We can perceive it in the context of a particular time. In other words, contextualise it. We know The Weeping Woman was produced during the Spanish civil war, and that Picasso was an anti-nationalist artist who symbolically fought against fascism. We can assume The Weeping Woman symbolises the sadness but simultaneously the hope that the nation still had, hope often associated with faith. This is where Mother Dolorosa enters the picture. Mater Dolorosa is a very well known image, especially for Catholic audiences, making it their ‘truth’. I would like to argue that meaning is what we consider to be our ‘truth’. I will elucidate this in another light in the next section.
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1.2 What Is Art If “A Child Could Paint That!”?
Have you ever heard someone comment on a piece of art saying “a child could paint that?” Chances are, most people have. Why is this such a frequent comment from audiences? Arthur C. Danto relates an anecdote concerning Picasso, which underlines the fact that a child most probably can paint it:
Shortly before his death, Picasso painted a tie blue in the style typical of New York artists during the 1950s, the paint-and-brushstroke, which yields a soft, unified colouration. At an exhibition, a father claims that his child is equally capable of painting Le cravat in this way. The child proceeds to paint a tie in the same paint-and-brushstroke style. At the same time, a coup à la Van Meegeren takes place … This makes it possible to imagine a Shakespearean situation of mistaken identities, no laughing matter if you happen to be an art dealer or in the business of insuring artworks … An art dealer confuses all this with the result that the child’s tie hangs in the Palais des Beaux Arts, Picasso, naturally refuses to acknowledge his tie as authentic, and signs the forgery; the original lies with Van Meegeren’s Christus in Emmaeus in a cigar box full of supposed wooden Pieces of Christ’s cross. (Danto 419/Straub 62)
Associating the production of an artwork with a child suggests that it is something that anyone could do. It is easy. Not art or an acquired skill, but, a simple action that every human perform. Could a child, then, produce art? Would we regard it such art as the product of skill if a child makes it? Can we label it as art? And if it is art, is it ‘truth’? In this subchapter, I will examine the 2007 documentary My Kid Could Paint That, directed by Ami Bar-Lev, which follows the journey of a Marla Olmstead, a four-year-old child prodigy. Authenticity was not the starting point for Bar-Lev. He initially aimed to capture the essence of the artist, rather than question authenticity or truthfulness. Nevertheless, his documentary uncovered some uncertainties. Is the art the child’s, or her parents? Why is she never seen painting anything similar to the works that made up her numerous exhibitions and sales?
9 Danto, Arthur Coleman. The Transfiguration of the Commonplace: a Philosophy of Art. Harvard University Press, 1981.
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1.2.1 Media Marketing Stunt or Real So-Called “Child Prodigy”?
Figure 2: Marla Olmstead, A Full Serving of Veggies, 2007, oil on canvas, dimensions unknown, Anthony Brunelli Fine Arts, Binghamton, NY.
In thinking about what a child could or could not paint, the creativity of child prodigies comes to mind. I would firstly like to address the term ‘child prodigy’ which, as Mark Runco and Steven Pritzker explain in their Encyclopedia of Creativity (2011), refers to
a gifted child artist [who] shows a precocious ability to draw realistically, to capture the illusion of depth, to depict contour faithfully … [and] demonstrate at an early age a sense of the adult art world of their cultures and master techniques that allow them to produce the kinds of artwork prised by this artwork. (453)
The documentary, with the taglines “Inspiration or Manipulation? You Decide.”10 And “American dream or art world scheme?”11, My Kid Could Paint That follows Marla Olmstead's
artistic career. Ultimately, Amir Bar-Lev questions the authenticity of her paintings. Did Marla actually paint them herself, or was she helped by her parents and/or others? Labelling her a child prodigy lends a certain ‘credibility’ to her work and increases interest from audiences
10 My Kid Could Paint That. Directed by Amir Bar-Lev, produced by Amir Bar-Lev, starring Amir Bar-Lev, Anthony Brunelli, Marla Olmstead, distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, 2007. 11 Ibid.
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within and outside the art world. The documentary asks one underlying question - is this art? Is this child simply pushing paint around, like any other child would? Film critic Roger Ebert writes “The truth lurking beneath My Kid Could Paint That is that your kid couldn’t paint that … Marla didn’t paint those works, although she may have applied some of the paint”12.
Bar-Lev stated in an interview:
I wasn’t interested in this film because there was any question of the painting’s authenticity, that only came 6 months into it. What interested me was the things that Marla’s celebrity said about pop culture and the way the media works.13
On his personal blog, Bar-Lev writes:
When I wasn’t around, she completed remarkable canvases larger than herself, with sweeping paint splashes and elaborate flourishes. But every time I tried to film her painting, Marla was distracted or unwilling”14.
Indeed, the only painting that is filmed from start to finish in his documentary does not resemble Marla’s more ‘popular’ or ‘true’ works, those which sold. As Bar-Lev notes, a camera crew might have distracted Marla. But the audience wants proof, something which Bar-Lev cannot give. The paintings that were verifiably Marla’s did not resemble the ones which sold for thousands of dollars. As he confronts her parents at the end of the film, Bar-Lev positions himself as skeptical but with good reason, as he has no proof of the paintings’ authenticity. Nevertheless, he leaves the ending ambiguous and open for the audience’s consideration.
Everything, of course, is relative. One reporter calls Marla’s paintings “compositions of apparent planning and vision”15, while another claims “she isn’t doing anything that a normal kid wouldn’t do”16. Critical reactions ranged from skeptical to positive. In his work Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life (2017), David M. Newman questions whether “Marla’s early work [was] the expression of a creative, visionary prodigy, or was it the result of a child playing around with paint?” (104). What is the value of contemporary art if a child can also produce it? Should stricter criteria be applied so that not anything can simply be defined as contemporary art? Does ‘truth’ really matter? In The Dematerialisation of Art
12 Ebert, Roger. Roger Ebert’s Movie Yearbook 2010. Andrews McMeel, 2010. p.300. 13 “My Kid Could Paint That - Exclusive: Amir Bar-Lev.” Youtube, Movieweb, www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUXmhSRxAMo.
14 Bar-Lev, Amir. “My Kid Could Paint That.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 25 May 2011, www.huffingtonpost.com/amir-barlev/my-kid-could-paint-that_b_62661.html. 15 Charlie, Rose. “New Questions About Child Prodigy.” CBS News, 22 Feb. 2005. 16 Ibid.
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(1999) by Lucy R. Lippard and John Chandler, Lippard uses the notion of dematerialisation within the framework of conceptual art. She writes:
more and more work is designed in the studio but executed elsewhere by professional craftsmen, as the object becomes merely the end product, a number of artists are losing interest in the physical evolution of the work of art. (Lippard 46)
Lippard calls this process dematerialisation, something which took place in Marla’s case. Criticism arises because the audience wants to see the process and evolution of the artwork, which was not shown in the documentary. The dematerialisation triggered doubts about the authenticity of Marla’s paintings. The media certainly played a key role in her success, which was heightened due to her age. This media attention, together with certain art critics who praised her work, caught the interest of art collectors and the wider public. The value of her work increased due to her success, not necessarily its truthfulness or her talent. Children’s art is criticised differently. Alissa Quart questions this in her work Hothouse Kids: How the Pressure to Succeed Threatens Childhood (2007). She writes:
But while children’s art was being reconceived as a teacher of spontaneity to adult painters, children’s artworks themselves were rarely signed. In fact, the lack of signature — which implied a lack of ego, no motive but pure creativity and self-expression, and no consciousness of audience beyond, perhaps the viewers of a grandparent’s refrigerator—was part of the reason children’s art was so valued. (145). In Marla’s case, this implies that her innocence and purity is lost due to her signing her paintings, presumably at her parents’ wish. The motive for signing the paintings, which a 4-year.-old cannot yet understand, is catalysed by the parents. The controversy, Quart notes, is that
“Marla’s aesthetic style is clearly superior to that of the average four-year-old—critics have noted its abstraction, consistency, colour, sense, formal balance, and maturity. The high prices her work fetches, however, are very much the doing of Brunelli [the gallery owner] and her parents” (146).
Prices rise with media attention, but we can also question Marla’s parents’ intentions. Her parents are the source of everything that can be read about her early ‘career’. In that sense, authenticity can never be attained as we cannot ask the original creator. Indeed, her artist statement, something that a four-year-old could not have written, proves this. Her parents tried to write what they thought she would write (see Appendix A). They believe her art is intended for an audience, Marla herself cannot make that decision. David Maclagan, in his work Outsider Art: From the Margins to the Marketplace (2010), does not specifically consider the
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question of authenticity, but the paradox of a child’s creativity resulting in effects in the adult world. As Maclagan writes:
either the work of adult abstract artists is no better than hers—‘a child could do it’, but then hardly any children except Marla Olmstead actually do—or her paintings in some extraordinary way have the same qualities … and can therefore stand alongside the work of more experienced adults (20).
The question of whether a child could do it or not is not at stake here. Interestingly, Maclagan has a valid point. If any child could do it, why won’t they? This is why Marla Olmstead was temporarily famous - she did it.
In using Picasso as a red thread throughout this paper, I would like to note his thoughts on child prodigies:
Unlike in music, there are no child prodigies in painting. What people regard as premature genius is the genius of childhood. It gradually disappears as they get older. It is possible for such a child to become a real painter one day, perhaps even a great painter. But he would have to start right from the beginning. So far as I am concerned, I did not have this genius. My first drawings could never have been shown at an exhibition of children’s drawings. I lacked the clumsiness of a child, his naivety. I made academic drawings at the age of seven, the minute precision of which frightened me. (Picasso/Walther 8)
Nonetheless, Picasso himself was once considered a child prodigy. He is believed to have painted his first work, Picador (see figure 3), at the age of 8. It is not the only painting he produced as a child.
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Figure 3: Pablo Picasso, Picador, 1889, oil on wood, 24 x 19 cm, Collection Claude Picasso, Paris.
On the other hand, a child prodigy might not become a successful artist. In Marla Olmstead’s case, the public wants to see how exactly she did it, to see the ‘truth’. Lippard’s notion of dematerialisation is not at stake in Marla’s case, or with child prodigies in general. The public wants to see the physical evolution of the artwork in order to confirm its authenticity, which is exactly what Bar-Lev eventually looked for in the documentary. Needless to say, he uncovered multiple ambivalences in Marla’s artwork and ultimately questioned her truthfulness.
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Chapter 2: Taking Inspiration From, Or Simply Copying?
In this chapter, I will discuss the mimetic qualities of art by bringing the notion of reproduction/copying into question. Using Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (1935) as a starting point, the German artist duo Emfhangshalle, together with Corbinian Böhm, Michael Gruber and Thomas Adebahrfo created the 2009/10 exhibition The Benjamin Project. The artworks included were inspired by the Dafen village practices (Dafen is a village in Shenzen, China, known for its massive industry copying works by artists such as Vincent Van Gogh). They address the problematics in these productions in relation to Benjamin’s theory. The exhibition controversially interprets authenticity and originality through a different lens and elucidates Benjamin’s ‘aura’ with unique canvases. The ‘aura’ could then be considered ultimate originality. Next, I will focus on Vincent Van Gogh’s painting Evening (After Millet) (1889) and will examine the difference between taking inspiration from other artists and copying.
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2.1 Empfhangshalle’s Exhibition The Benjamin Project
Figure 4: Emfhangshalle, Böhm, Corbinian, Gruber, Michael and Adebahrfo, Thomas, The Work of Art in
the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, The Benjamin Project, 38 pictures, oil on canvas, Diet Gallery.
Miami, He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China, 2010.
Walter Benjamin is undoubtedly one of the most renowned thinkers to tackle notions of originality in the light of reproduction. While researching various exhibitions concerned with the concepts of authenticity and originality, I came across one which was presented at Diet Gallery, Miami, in 2009 and the He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China in 2010. The Benjamin Project Taking Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (1935) as a starting point, the exhibition focuses on the production of artworks in relation to the practices of the Dafen village in Shenzen, China. This village has been the subject of controversy in relation to the art industry, copyright and consumerism. Dafen is the world’s largest production centre for handmade oil paintings, producing brushstroke-accurate copies of works by artists such as Van Gogh. The Benjamin Project is based on Western readings of authenticity and originality. These are very much Western concerns and, unlike in many parts of Asia, seem to be a precondition to notions of a work’s ‘quality’. At least people
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often seem to confuse originality with quality. The Benjamin Project could almost be considered over-conceptual and/or intellectual, almost an instructive ‘doctrine'. It is a provocative exhibition and there are limitations in trying to analyse it, in the sense of its instructive rather than creative aspects. It seems to make the audience aware of certain principles that stimulate their thoughts and that is what it is supposed to do among the inventors and creators of the project. The process of the artwork, as described on their website17:
Chronologically, the auratic painting, the original, only arises after the double pages of one copy of many identical books have themselves been copied by painting. Paper, a cheap picture carrier, is replaced by expensive canvas, printing becomes brushstrokes, offset colour is replaced by oil paints, mechanical printing by handicraft. Thoughts take form as pictures, and the content of the original, the content of the whole, is contained in each of the 38 pictures. The image as a form and carrier of thought gives theoretical content a visible shape. The picture as a means of expressing thought makes the aura of the text visible and lends the concept a unique, non-reproducible presence.
Copying all those pages fits in perfectly with the artificial modelling of the contemporary moment.
Interestingly, the ‘content of the original’ refers to the words of Walter Benjamin, while the ‘auratic painting’ refers to the original painting. The first canvas is the first reproduction of Benjamin’s words. Via a process of re-creating the essay on canvas, a new ‘aura’ is created, insofar as the artists are trying to elucidate Benjamin’s theory. The Dafen village was not the only trigger for Empfangshalle’s exhibition. In 2009, Google made numerous paintings available on its Google Earth platform, greatly increasing online access to leading artists’ work. This raises the question of authenticity. The (online) copies profit from the original’s aura, while the original profits from the number of copies.
On their website, Empfangshalle state:
“The differences between image and reality, original and copy are dissolving, only what is personally experienced counts as real – only what has been made by hand, has an aura”,
This is exactly what I wish to examine. Is it only handmade objects that have an aura? In Van Gogh on Demand: China and the Readymade, Wong argues that “the Dafen painter manages the complex valences of creativity, copying and originality” (31). I would like to argue that it
17“The Benjamin Project.” Empfangshalle,
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is indeed the combination of creativity and originality which constitutes the ‘aura’ of an artwork, yet it is lost in the process of copying. To bridge this argument with the next chapter, I would like to quote Van Gogh’s brother Theo: “Copied in such a way, it is no longer a copy” (Theo to Vincent van Gogh, January 8th, 1890)18.
18Hulsker, Jan, and James M. Miller. Vincent and Theo Van Gogh: a Dual Biography. Fuller Publications, 1990.
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2.2 Van Gogh As Composer
In this section, I want to shed light on a different aspect of what could be considered reproduction, namely the ‘art’ of taking inspiration from other artists. Here, I will use the term ‘reproduction’ in the sense of appropriation, without the negative connotations of copying. Interestingly, Van Gogh was known to take inspiration from many other artists. During his stay at a psychiatric hospital, one of the prints he received from his brother Theo, after paintings by Jean-François Millet, was his the inspiration for the painting below. As the description on the Van Gogh Museum website attests, “he ‘translated’ the black-and-white print into a painting in colour”19.
Figure 5: Van Gogh, Vincent. Evening (After Millet), 1889, oil on canvas, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
19 “Evening (After Millet)” Van Gogh Museum¸
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Figure 6: Millet, François. Winter Evening, 1867. Pastel and black conté crayons on grey-brown wove paper. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
If even Vincent van Gogh, one of the greatest and most recognisable artists in history took his inspiration from (or some might argue, copied) another artist, what then is the meaning of originality? Van Gogh was known for making multiple ‘copies’ of works by different artists, mostly Millet, but also Eugène Delacroix, Honoré Daumier, and Rembrandt, among others. He did not copy brushstroke by brushstroke, but drew inspiration from these artists’ works and used his own technique and compositions to recreate his work. In a letter to his brother Theo, he wrote:
“I started making them inadvertently and now find that I can learn from them and that they give me a kind of comfort. My brush then moves through my fingers like a bow over the strings of a violin – completely for my pleasure.”20
Here he refers to Sheepshearers (After Millet) (1889). His inclusion of other artists’ names in his titles emphasises admiration, highlighting that van Gogh was taking inspiration from other artists rather than copying their works. Robert Verhoogt examines the meaning of the original and reproduction, studying Van Gogh, among others21. In using music as a parallel example, Van Gogh complained about originality in the same letter to his brother:
20 Van Gogh, Vincent. “805. To Theo van Gogh, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Friday 20th September,
1889. Van Gogh Letters, http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let805/letter.html
21 Verhoogt, Robert. “The Designer of the Image As Interpreter.” Art in Reproduction:
Nineteenth-Century Prints after Lawrence Alma-Tameda, Jozef Israëls and Ary Scheffer. Amsterdam:
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‘it is always expected of us painters that we compose [everything] ourselves and are just composers. All very well, but in music it doesn’t work like that, and when someone plays Beethoven, he adds his personal interpretation… I lay out the black-and-white representation after Delacroix or Millet as my motif’22.
Verhoogt notes that “when an artist makes a reproduction, the question then arises of whether this work is indeed a reproduction or an original print … it is often unclear whether a painting is an original or a replica” (Verhoogt 57). Indeed, this distinction between “originals, replicas, reductions and reproductions, are strictly adhered to these categories when producing their work” (Verhoogt 57). Verhoogt then questions who should be regarded as the author of a reproduction, which he answers with “both the image creator/designer and the image interpreter are entitled to be regarded as the author of a reproduction, on the basis of their own particular contribution to a specific physical work” (Verhoogt 58). In Van Gogh’s case, he acknowledges himself and the ‘original’ author. In my view, both are contributors to the artwork, thereby rejecting the idea of copying, or ‘faking’, altogether. Both artists are co-authors of that particular work.
Referring to Pablo Picasso’s statement “Art is a lie that brings us closer to the truth”, Susanne Knaller and Julia Straub, in Paradoxes of Authenticity: Studies on a Critical Concept, write about the meaning of authenticity as Umberto Eco understands it, or what Eco calls “autenticità autoriale”.
“But if we thought that authenticity means truth, then it is good to remember that this truth, like all those which comfort us, is still largely conjectural” (Eco 191/Knaller and Straub 54).
Indeed, Knaller and Straub observe that the importance of authenticity changes over time, and has not always been connected to originality (necessarily), yet “always presupposes a recursive dynamic between subject and object and is persistently renewed performatively” (Knaller and Straub 54). Originality therefore, does not seem to play a crucial role, as it is more about the binary of original/fake, true/false that is constantly changing (Knaller and Straub 540).
22 Verhoogt, Robert. “The Designer of the Image As Interpreter.” Art in Reproduction:
Nineteenth-Century Prints after Lawrence Alma-Tameda, Jozef Israëls and Ary Scheffer. Amsterdam:
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2.3 The Louvre, Unexpected: Situated in Abu Dhabi
For my next case study, I will look at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, which opened on November 11th 2017. As described on the official website of the Louvre, the aims of the new institution:
Wishing to make their country a top cultural destination and internationally recognised for art, education, and culture, the leaders of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi launched the development of this major, universal art museum project. By developing tourism, education, and services, they aimed to dawn the post-oil age. Abu Dhabi called on French expertise to help them successfully bring the Arab world’s first universal museum to life.23
Figure 7: Somji, Mohammed. Louvre Abu Dhabi, retrieved from http://www.louvre.fr/en/louvre-abu-dhabi
The Louvre Abu Dhabi is designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel, whose other commissions include the Arab World Institute, Paris; the Torre Agbar, Barcelona and the Culture and Congress Centre, Lucerne. The Louvre Abu Dhabi
“might be described as Arabic-galactic … [and] it could pass as a spaceship, an unfinished mosque or a Venetian pavilion set on the edge of the Persian Gulf”24 It is situated on Saadiyat Island, or ‘Island of Happiness’. The aim of the site is to create a so-called ‘cultural district’, combining cultural leisure activities, hotels and shopping districts and is aimed at an elite class. There is also a plan to include an Abu Dhabi Guggenheim, inspired by those situated in Bilboa and New York City. The emergence of Western culture is central to the island of Saadiyat, which in some eyes, generates an uncanny feeling. Remarkably, even though the Louvre Abu Dhabi is introduced on the French website, it is not an official franchise. The museum ‘leases’ the Louvre brand provisionally. As described on the website:
23“The Louvre Abu Dhabi” Le Louvre, http://www.louvre.fr/en/louvre-abu-dhabi
24 Cotter, Holland. (2017, Nov. 28). “Louvre Abu Dhabi, an Arabic-Galactic Wonder, Revises Art History”. The New York Times. Web.
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The origins of Louvre Abu Dhabi date back to 2007 when France and the United Arab Emirates came together to develop a new kind of cultural institution. The result is a museum rooted in universal human values, the first of its kind in the region. Louvre Abu Dhabi represents the dynamic nature of the contemporary Arab world while celebrating the region’s vibrant multicultural heritage.25
This creates an illusion of art history, yet nothing about it has developed organically. If the aim of the institution is to make art more approachable, what does this mean for authenticity and art history itself? Where does the ‘multicultural heritage’ come from? The Louvre in Paris was established in 179326 and has since become the world’s largest museum and a historic monument. I question how something which took over 200 years to achieve global preeminence can be ‘leased’. As a response to such uncanniness, Cotter Holland writes that:
“works that qualify as “classics” to a Western viewer feel surreally exotic at the multiculturalist Louvre Abu Dhabi, including Jacques-Louis David’s image of Napoleon Bonaparte crossing the Alps, on loan from Versailles”27.
Indeed, the notion of surrealism inevitably intertwines with the uncanny, as the object of the Louvre Abu Dhabi is set in an unfamiliar context − which is not necessarily a bad thing.
25 “Our Story: About Louvre Abu Dhabi.” Our Story | About Louvre Abu Dhabi, http://www.louvreabudhabi.ae/en/about-us/our-story.
26 “History of the Louvre, from château to museum” Louvre http://www.louvre.fr/en/histoirelouvres/history-louvre#tabs
27 Cotter, Holland. (2017, Nov. 28). “Louvre Abu Dhabi, an Arabic-Galactic Wonder, Revises Art History”. The New York Times. Web.
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2.3.1 The Louvre In Terms Of ‘Superfluity’ or ‘Any-Space-Whatever’
With reference to Achille Mbembe's Aesthetics of Superfluity (2004), I will consider the Louvre Abu Dhabi as “a defining moment of metropolitan modernity” (Mbembe 373), due to its relevance in the art world. Mbembe’s argument is not specifically about the Louvre Abu Dhabi, rather it is part of a discussion about modernity, superfluity and labour, among other subjects. In relation to the Louvre Abu Dhabi, “the circulation of goods and commodities” (374), in this case, artworks circulating from France to Abu Dhabi, “results in the liquidation of tradition and its substitution by a culture of indifference and restlessness” (374). Tradition could be considered lost in the process of ‘leasing’ the Louvre brand. The notion of superfluity, referring to “the aesthetics of surfaces and quantities, and to how such aesthetics are premised on the capacity of things to hypnotise, overexcite, or paralyse the senses” (374) and “the dialectics of indispensability and expendability of both labour and life, people and things” (374) closely overlaps with the Louvre brand. According to Mbembe’s research Johannesburg, in parallel with the Louvre Abu Dhabi, “found it hard to resist the temptation of mimicry” (275). Mimicry, in this context, results from the lack of culture and history necessary for such a leading historical institution. Needless to say, it is impossible to grow an organic art centre in a short period of time, unless you have the equivalent of about a billion dollars to spare. Cultural heritage is hard to come by on an island built specifically for cultural tourism.
To further analyse the Louvre Abu Dhabi, I will take Gilles Deleuze’s concept of ‘any-space-whatever’ (espace quelconque) (1995) into consideration, as described in Ackbar Abbas’ Faking globalization (2008). Here Abbas considers ‘any-space-whatever’ and in particular ‘space’ as
“places we do not yet understand, or no longer understand, so affect refers us to emotions we do not yet have, or no longer have a name for … [Any-space-whatever] is the polar opposite of an actualised “state of things” which is always framed in terms of spatiotemporal-psychic coordinates that we tacitly understand. By contrast, any-space whatever involves a series of deframing.” (Abbas 245)
In a similar fashion, the Louvre Abu Dhabi as subject is not framed by an “establishment shot” with recognisable landmarks” (Abbas 245). That is to say, the establishment shot being the aesthetics of the ‘original’ Louvre in Paris with its recognisable pyramid on the Cour Napoléon at the entrance to the Louvre Museum, built in 1989. Being artificially built, the island has no recognisable landmarks. Furthermore, it does not need an ‘establishment shot’ as it recreates
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an experience in a similar, yet completely different fashion. Considering the Abu Dhabi Louvre as ‘any-space-whatever’, takes away what is familiar to us, by removing the spatial surroundings of the ‘original’ Louvre. By resituating the museum a new dimension is created, which we ‘do not yet understand’. However, I believe we may better understand it once we remove ‘copying’ from the equation. The Abu Dhabi Louvre recreates, reconstructs and borrows the Louvre brand in order to establish something new to attract its target audience.
Figure 8: Unknown photographer, The Louvre Paris, retrieved from http://www.louvre.fr/en/how-use-louvre
In that sense, familiarity is ‘deframed’. The new and unfamiliar building is situated in a different setting, region, climate and architectural surroundings. In this regard:
“We can think about any-space-whatever as a particular and ordinary space, but one that has somehow lost its homogeneity and systems of interconnectedness” (Abbas 246).
The Louvre Abu Dhabi does not aim to be homogenous with the ‘original’ Louvre. Most importantly it cannot and will never be an exact copy, but rather serves as a ‘branch’, an expansion of the ‘tree’ of art. Surely its aim is to become an institution spreading Western culture and history which is not the history and culture of Abu Dhabi itself.
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2.3.2. Paleis Het Loo: Authenticity and Heritage
In putting The Louvre Abu Dhabi in perspective, I would like to compare it with Paleis Het Loo, a cultural heritage site located in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. This is not a reconstructed site as Louvre Abu Dhabi is. Het Loo was built in 1684 and has undergone multiple renovations since the late 20th century, including one currently in progress 28
In “Heritage in the Dutch Press: A History of Changing Meanings in an International Context” (2016), Hanneke Ronnes investigates the changes in meaning and increase in popularity of the term ‘heritage’ (in dutch: erfgoed). The main point in her article is that the difference between ‘heritage’ as a word and a concept is not problematised nor evaluated enough. Ronnes was inspired to apply a diachronic approach to investigating changes in journalistic use of ‘heritage’ The Dutch pioneers in monument care felt that the Netherlands was lagging behind in monument awareness and policy. One of them was the writer Joseph Alberdingk Thijm, who argued for greater attention to the aesthetic value of buildings, explicitly referring to these monuments of Dutch architecture (Ronnes 2016, 12/Alberdingk Thijm, 217-218)
Ronnes argues that because Alberdingk Thijm did not label monuments as heritage, “the emergence of the cultural connotation of the term has been somewhat overlooked” (13).
While the heritage cult that we nowadays witness has gone hand in hand with the greater circulation of the English word heritage—be it through international heritage policy or cultural tourism—we need to be wary of ascribing the wrong significance to the effect of what has been signalled as “the Anglicization of certain domains of language” after 1945, and especially in recent decades. The Dutch word erfgoed had acquired its current meaning well before this trend. (Ronnes 2010, 23/Steinmetz 100)
Ronnes wrote another article taking Paleis Het Loo as a case study for her research. Instead of looking the historical context of presentation/reception of Paleis Het Loo, in “Authenticiteit en authenticiteitsbeleving: de presentatie en receptie van museum Paleis het Loo” (2010), Ronnes focuses on the current context:
“de periode vanaf het moment dat paleis Het Loo gerestaureerd en gemusealiseerd - of gedemocratiseerd8 - werd, niet toevallig hetzelfde moment waarop de
authenticiteitskwestie een rol begon te spelen. [The period from the moment that
28“Paleis Het Loo in The Netherlands - Temporarily Closed.” Paleis Het Loo.com, www.paleishetloo.com/.
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palace Het Loo was restored and became musealized - or democratised -, which happened simultaneously with the issue of authenticity]” (Ronnes 190).
The main question Ronnes aims to answer is “Welke rol speelt het eeuwige museale vraagstuk van de authenticiteit in zowel de presentatie als de receptie van Het Loo? [What role does the eternal issue of museum authenticity play in both the presentation and the reception of Het Loo?] (Ronnes 2010, 190). Taking Robert Hewison and John Urry as starting points, she argues that there is a paradox between conservation (of heritage) and reconstruction/restoration. Robert Hewison writes, in The Heritage Industry: Britain in a Climate of Decline (1989), “If we really are interested in our history, then we may have to preserve it from the from conservationists” a point emphasised by Urry, who writes: “The protection of the past conceals the destruction of the present”. (Urry 99)
Interestingly enough, the conservators of Het Loo are constantly stuck between the binary museal ambitions and wonder: “Moet Het Loo met name een paleis vertegenwoordigen (beleving), of gaat het hier in eerste instantie om een museum in de meer klassieke zin van het woord (educatie)? [“Does Het Loo have to represent a palace (experience) in particular, or is this primarily a museum in the more classical sense of the word (education)? Ronnes 2010, 192] These questions underly the problematics of authenticity within the world of museums. Is it still authentic if original objects are placed in a reconstructed/renovated setting? If not, does that not resemble closely the Abu Dhabi Louvre case study? “Original” objects are situated there and I would still consider them “authentic” even though they are situated in a reconstructed place. In her article Ronnes asks: does authenticity even matter for the museum’s visitor? (Ronnes 2010, 195)
Referring back to Walter Benjamin’s idea of the artwork losing its ‘aura’, Ronnes asks in her conclusion: Je zou je af kunnen vragen in hoeverre het publiek merkt dat het in de tuin van Het Loo om reconstructies - om staged authenicity29 - gaat. Vormt het gebrek aan patina in de tuin – het patina dat het publiek op de ouderdom en authenticiteit attendeert en de objecten ‘aura’ verschaft – een belemmering voor de historische sensatie? [You might wonder to what extent the public will notice that the garden at Het Loo is about reconstructions - staged authenticity. Is the lack of patina in the garden - the patina that draws the public's attention to old age and authenticity and gives the objects "aura" - an obstacle to the historic sensation?] (197) Furthermore, Ronnes introduces Richard Prentice’s concept of staged authenticity, which is highly applicable to my research.
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After looking at three very different examples that relate to notions of ‘copying’ (Empfhangshalle's The Benjamin Project, the inspiration Vincent Van Gogh’ took from Jean-François Millet among others and the new Louvre Abu Dhabi, my claim is that ‘copying’ closely relates to the value of authenticity it possesses. The value of authenticity is therefore evaluated by the audience. One might say that van Gogh simply copied Millet, another might argue that he took inspiration from him. In my opinion, the latter is evidently applicable in van Gogh’s case. Since van Gogh always included the name of the artist he took inspiration from in his titles, I would argue that they are co-authors, something he seemed to agree with. Copies, in that sense, play an important role in art as many artists take inspiration from one another. The same principle applies in regard to the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Leasing the Louvre brand creates a homogenous experience: an art collection shared with the original Louvre produces a non-organic recreation, yet with the same intentions. The experience of defamiliarising the brand, while simultaneously creating a familiarisation is uncanny but brilliant. If unable to produce something organically, why stop there? French expertise was, apparently, then truly needed. I would argue, referring back to the Dutch expression in my introduction, “beter goed gejat dan slecht bedacht”, could then be considered well ‘copied’ instead of badly invented. In this light, I would argue that in similar fashion to van Gogh’s work, the Abu Dhabi Louvre’s aim to spread culture is far from any negative connotations of ‘copying’.
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Chapter 3: Corporate Art Collections and Their Search for Authenticity
In this last chapter, I will look at at the phenomenon of corporate art collections which have a constant and important influence on the market for contemporary art in The Netherlands, in particular the corporate collection of De Nederlandsche Bank.
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3.1 A Distinctive Player: Netherlands Association of Corporate Art Collections
Corporate art collections today grow rapidly. In the Netherlands, most corporate collections are members of the Vereniging Bedrijfscollecties Nederland (Netherlands Association of Corporate Art Collections (VBCN). Referring to corporate art, I will take Monika Kackovic’s doctoral dissertation Observable persuaders: A Longitudinal study on the effects of quality signals in the contemporary visual art market (2016)as a starting point.
Corporate collectors can be understood to be any business engaged in commerce, and who also collect art, but whose core activity is not preservation, research and
communication of works of contemporary visual art” (Weil 1990/Kackovic 2016) Since 2010, the VBCN has noted that corporate collections account for an increasing share of turnover in the primary art market30. The VBCN’s mission is the following: “The VBCN encourages artistic activities, and helps companies and public and semi-public institutions develop the best possible policy for building their collections”31. In addition, the VBCN states that:
Autonomy is a characteristic of art, and in the corporate context, as everywhere, art refuses to be limited to a single unequivocal message. By definition, the corporate purchase of a work of art creates an interesting dialogue between that work and the people around it. Art enables viewers to think beyond well-trodden paths and standard frameworks. Thus, art in corporate collections is always a site of intersection between intrinsic interest in the artwork and the instrumental deployment of art for other organisational goals. This is what makes corporate collections different from private and museum collections.32
Together, the VBCN’s 50 member organisations own about 100.000 artworks, account for 10-20% of the contemporary art market and loan works on a regular basis to museums and corporate collections.33 I have chosen to examine corporate art collections because of their importance in the art world today. “Although historically museum collections have played a
30 “Facts en Figures over De Primaire Kunstmarkt En Bedrijfs- Collecties in Nederland.” VBCN, https://vbcn.nl/EN/messages/facts-en-figures-over-de-primaire-kunstmarkt-en-bedrijfscollecties-in-nederland.
31 Ibid.
32 “What is a Corporate Art Collection.” VBCN, http://vbcn.nl/EN/vereniging/what-is-a-coporate-art-collection/.
33 “What is a Corporate Art Collection.” VBCN, http://vbcn.nl/EN/vereniging/what-is-a-coporate-art-collection/.
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role in determining art value based upon what art became institutionalised since the 1980s corporate art collections have steadily gained credibility and authority to also determine the value of art” (Wu 2002/Kackovic 2016).
In its 2017 official annual report34, the VBCN stated that the quantitative impact of corporate collections on the primary art market in the Netherlands remains stable. Additionally, as seen in Kackovic’s research, the qualitative impact on the art market must be taken seriously as corporate collections are early adapters and purchase works by successful artists at an early stage in their career. Both these factors indicate that the phenomenon of corporate collections is a constant and important influence on the market for contemporary art in The Netherlands. Though the perception of gallerists might seem to indicate otherwise, as they claim the share of corporate collections is decreasing, Kackovic’s claims are based in incidental observations not consistent with her own research. The total budget of VBCN members has not decreased, thus companies that have a corporate collection have not decreased since 2010. They have grown from 2,7% to 3.,2% during the period 2010 to 2015.
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3.2 Acquiring a Certain Position Within The Art Scene: De Nederlandsche Bank
De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) is the central bank of the Netherlands, tasked with safeguarding Dutch financial stability. In doing so, DNB works with European partners to achieve “price stability and a balanced macroeconomic development in Europe; a shock-resilient financial system and a secure, reliable and efficient payment system; and strong and sound financial institutions that meet their obligations and commitments.”35 DNB has five major core values: openness, integrity, cooperation, responsibility and willingness to change.36 In the final year of my Master’s programme, I opted for a different approach towards the art world and interned at the Art Commission of DNB. How can I look at the concepts of originality and authenticity within a banking context? Why do I walk unnoticed in the hallways of the bank, labelled as just the ‘kunstmeisje’37? How can art be controversial in the context of
the DNB? How does authenticity work in such a different setting? I wanted to use this experience to find ideas which competed, yet perhaps complemented my other objects. In order to answer those questions, I will lay out and explain the main tasks and goals of DNB’s art committee.
Since 1982, the DNB’s official aim has been to collect high quality contemporary art. The bank purchased artwork as early as 1905, yet it was only in 1982 that a structured system was put into place. The committee includes five members, including Alexander Strengers, who has been chairman since 1993. The members hold positions within the bank, therefore their work on the art committee is considered an ancillary activity. As one of the three interns on the art committee, I was responsible for the internal and external communication, management and conservation of the collection. The collection consists of about 1.200 works of art. The works chosen for the collection function within the core values mentioned above. The art committee’s main aim is to inspire and maintain dialogue between the bank’s employees, support young artists and mirror the contemporary art world. To do so, art is displayed throughout the bank, in individual offices, hallways and common spaces. The committee organises special tours for DNB employees in Amsterdam museums and works together with students from Het Conservatorium van Amsterdam (CvA) to organise lunchtime concerts for DNB employees.
35 “Mission and Task”. DNB. Retrieved on June 12, 2018. https://www.dnb.nl/en/about-dnb/index.jsp 36 Ibid.
