The Original and Forgery Distinction as an Aesthetic Pseudo-Problem

Abstract

Artworks are evaluated in relation to an aesthetic understanding and with the goal of developing that understanding and aesthetic appreciation. These evaluations attribute an aesthetic value to artworks through various aesthetic qualities. The aesthetic value attributed to the artistic productions also determines the aesthetic status of these works of art. High aesthetic value is often considered a status peculiar to original works. However, the problem of forgery that Nelson Goodman discussed under the title of authenticity reinterprets the relations between original, copy, and forged. Taking a different approach from that of Goodman’s, this article draws attention to the critical difference between copy and forgery and presents a new perspective in which the distinctive aesthetic qualities reserved for original works can also be accepted for forged works. The problem of the aesthetic status of forgery is informative not only for aesthetic understanding but also for our perspective on artistic creation processes. Within this framework, it will be argued that the distinction between original and forgery is not an aesthetic problem by showing that the distinction itself is a pseudo-problem. This so-called distinction will be questioned in various respects within the frame of visual art forms, and the place of forged works in the art world and their function in terms of aesthetic understanding will be reevaluated. The distinction which categorically gives a lower status to forgery will be rejected, and the obsession with originality in connection with a genuine reality, which in fact art should assume the task of distorting, will accordingly be undermined.