art production essay

The above principles apply to graphic works which can be considered originals, that is to say to prints for which the artist made the original plate, cut the woodblock, worked on the stone or any other material. Works that do not fulfill these conditions must be considered “reproductions.”

Although this is a straightforward statement, later developments have proved it to be highly controversial. Since the rise of the Pop and Op movements, a great number of photographically produced prints have been published and sold as signed originals. Because museum curators, art critics, and artists have not taken a firm stand on the question, any print that the artist declares to be original is now accepted as such, regardless of how it was made. Although the art world is divided on the solution, nearly everybody agrees that something should be done to clarify the situation. The state of New York , for example, has passed a law requiring complete disclosure by the dealer of how, and by whom, the print was made.

Many artists believe that the answer lies in the giving of honest information. In the 17th and 18th centuries in the West, most prints carried all the relevant information on their margins. The names of individuals were followed by Latin abbreviations indicating their role in the work. Common examples are del. ( delineavit ): “he drew it”; imp. ( impressit ): “he printed it”; and sculp. ( sculpsit ): “he engraved it.” This type of information, together with the total edition number, should be furnished by the artist or the dealer to the buyer. Clearly, it is impossible to make completely rigid rules to define originality. Probably the most realistic solution is to establish degrees of originality, based on the degree of the artist’s participation in the various steps in the creation of the finished print.

There may also be confusion about edition numbering. In contemporary printmaking, an original print in limited edition should carry information about the size of the total edition and the number of the print. A problem can arise because, in addition to the regular edition, there are “artist’s proofs” or the French “H.C.” ( hors de commerce ) proofs. These are intended for the artist’s personal use and should be no more than 10 percent of the edition, but, unfortunately, this practice is often abused. All of the prints pulled between working stages are called “trial proofs.” These can be of great interest because they reveal the artist’s working process and of great value because the number of proofs is small.

With prints of old masters in the West, originality is a very complex and difficult issue. These artists did not publish their prints in limited editions but printed as many as they could sell and without signing or numbering their works. There are arguments even between experts about the authenticity of many old prints. Important works of the masters are documented in catalogs and, although these must be revised from time to time, they furnish the only firm information available. After the edition is printed, the modern artist usually either destroys the plate or marks (“strikes”) it in a distinctive manner to guarantee that any reprint from the plate is identifiable.

The 19th-century U.S. painter and etcher James McNeill Whistler was one of the first Western artists to hand sign his prints. Signing is now regulated by a convention . Upon completing the edition, the artist signs and numbers each print. Usually the signature is in the lower right corner; the edition number is on the left. Some artists put the title in the centre.

Fostering Imaginative Artists Since 1961

The meaning of art as viewed by various philosophers:

Tolstoy Hegel Wittgenstein Maritain

Leo Tolstoy on What is Art?

Aetheticians have attempted to work backwards by first listing acknowledged works of art, and then trying to find a theory to fit them all. So now, no matter what insanities appear in art, once they find acceptance among the upper classes of society, a theory is quickly invented to explain and sanction them, just as if there had never appeared in history people who produced false and deformed art, which was afterwards discarded and forgotten. And one may see now in the art of our circle, to what lengths the insanity and deformity of art may go.

So that theory of art is nothing but the setting up as good whatever pleases us, that is, pleases a certain class of people. In order define any human activity, it is necessary to understand its sense and importance; to do that one must examine the activity itself, and its causes and effects, not merely in relation to the pleasure we get out of it. If we say that the aim of any activity is merely pleasure, and is defined by that pleasure, our definition will be false. If we compare it to the food question, nobody would affirm that the importance of food consists in the pleasure we get from eating it. We know that the satisfaction of the taste buds is no infallible guide to the best food from a health point of view, in the same way the pleasure we get from a painting is no indication of its worth. People who consider the meaning of art to be pleasure cannot realise its true meaning, in fact, people will come to understand the meaning of art only when they cease to consider that the aim of art is pleasure.

So then – what is art?

The latest definitions are:

The first definition is inexact, because instead of speaking of the human activity itself, it only speaks of the derivation of it The second definition is inexact because a man may express his emotions by means of lines colours etc, and yet may not act on others by his expression so the result is not art. The third definition is inexact, because in the production of objects or actions affording pleasure, conjuring tricks or gymnastic exercises may be included, which are not art. Furthermore, the production of a play which does not afford pleasure to the producer or audience, may yet be a work of art. The inaccuracy of all these definitions arises from the fact that, in them all, the object considered is the pleasure art may give, and not the purpose it may serve in the life of man and of humanity.

In order to define art correctly, it is necessary to cease to consider it as a means to pleasure, and to consider it as one of the conditions of life. Viewed in this way, we see that art is one of the means of communication between man and man.

Every work of art causes the receiver to enter into a certain kind of relationship, both with the artist and all who receive the same impression. Just as words transmit thoughts, so art transmits feelings. The activity of art is based on the fact that when we witness a man experiencing an emotion, we to some extent share it. To evoke in oneself a feeling that one has once experienced, and to transmit that feeling to others through forms and colours, sounds or movements.

That is art. Art is not pleasure, but a means of union among men, joining them together in the same feelings, and indispensable for life and progress towards well-being of individuals and of humanity. Thanks to his capacity to express thoughts by words, every man may know the debt he owes to the past, and be able to hand on what he has acheived to future generations. If humans lacked this capacity, we would be like wild beasts, and if people lacked this capacity for being infected by art, people might be more savage still, and more separated from one another.

All human life is filled with art, from cradle songs to fashion in clothes, but by the word ‘art’, we mean that part of artistic activity which we select as having special importance. This special importance has always been given to that part of art which transmits feelings flowing from religious perception. This was how Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle looked on art, and how all the great religious teachers understood it. Plato was so convinced of the power of art, that he suggested that artists should be banned from his ideal republic. Yet that is a less harmful attitude than the attitude in our European society today, where art is regarded as a good thing only if it affords pleasure.

How has our society come down to this? It is because the estimation of the value of art (that is, the feeling it transmits) depends on man’s perception of the meaning of life. Humanity unceasingly moves forward from a lower, more partial view of life to a higher and broader view. Religions are the exponents of the highest comprehension of life accessible to the best and foremost people at a given time. Later the rest of society follows their lead. Therefore religions have always served as bases for the valuation of human semtiments. If feelings bring men nearer the ideal their religion indicates, they are good, if they oppose it, they are bad.

Thus in the case of the Greeks, if the religion places the meaning of life in earthly happiness, in beauty and strength, then art transmitting the joy and energy of life would be considered good, but art transmitting despondency would be bad. If the meaning of life is seen in the well-being of one’s nation, or in honouring one’s ancestors, as in the case of the Romans and Chinese, then art transmitting joy in self sacrifice for one’s country or exalting one’s ancestors would be good, and the contrary, bad. If the meaning of life is seen in freeing oneself from the yoke of animalism, as in Buddhism, then art which elevates the soul and humbles the flesh is good, whereas art exalting bodily passions would be bad. But art in our society has been so perverted that not only has bad art come to be considered good, but even the very perception of what art really is, has been lost.

In order to find out why, we must distinguish art from counterfeit art. Real art must be infectious – the receiver of a true artistic impression is so united to the artist that he feels as though the work were his own – as if what it expresses was what he had been longing to express. A real work of art destroys the separation between himself and the artist, and even between himself and all those others who also appreciate this art. In this freeing of our personality from its isolation, and uniting it with others, lies the great attractive force of art. Not only is infection a sure sign of art, but the degree of infectiousness is the sole measure of excellence in art.

This depends on three things: 1. The individuality of the feeling transmitted. 2. Its clarity. 3. The sincerity of the artist – ie, the the degree of force with which the artist feels the emotion he transmits.

If the viewer feels that the artist works for himself, he is affected, but if he feels that the artist is not infected, but is trying to influence him, the viewer feels a resistance, and is repelled instead. All can be summed up in a word – sincerity. The artist should be impelled by an inner need to express his feeling. Now, just as the evolution of knowledge proceeds by truer and more necessary knowledge displacing previous knowledge, so the evolution of feeling proceeds through art – feelings more kind and needful to humanity replace the older feelings. That is the purpose of art. In every age there exists an understanding of the meaning of life which represents the highest level which has been attained.

If it appears that in our Society there is no religious perception, this is not because there is none, but because we do not want to see it. And often this is because it exposes the fact that our life is inconsistent with that religious perception. In our times religion is regarded as a superstition which humanity has outgrown, and yet if humanity is to progress there must be a guide to the direction of that movement. Religions have always furnished that guide throughout history. So there must be some form of religious perception today – and in its widest and most practical application, it is the consciousness that or well-being – materially and spiritually – lies in the growth of brotherhood among men – in their loving harmony with one another.

The chief mistake made by the people of the upper classes at the time of the Renaissance was that they set up in place of religious art, an art which aimed only at giving pleasure. It is said that the great evil is not that we do not know God, but that we make a god of something lower. Instead of art which feeds the spirit, an empty and often vicious art is set up, which hides from us our need for true art. And true art for our time would demand the union of all people without exception – above all virtues it sets brotherly love to all men.

G.W.F.Hegel (1770 -1831) on the Philosophy of Fine Art

Art can serve many puposes, and even be a pastime, but we want to examine the kind of art that is free in its aim and means. This is the only true art. Its highest function is only served when it has established itself in a sphere which it shares with religion and philosophy, becoming thereby a mode and form through which the Divine, the profoundest interests of mankind, and spiritual truths of the widest range, are brought home to consciousness and expressed. It is in works of art that nations have deposited the richest ideas they possess, and often art serves as a key of interpretation to the wisdom and understanding of peoples. Philosophy and religion also do this, but art appeals to the senses and is nearer to Nature and to our sensitive and emotional life.

Art is the primary bond of mediation between the external world of the senses and the medium of pure thought and understanding. It could be objected that art was unworthy, being of the world of appearances and its deceptions.

But in the world of Nature appearance is essential to reality.There could be no such thing as truth if it did not actually appear for some person. And appearance in Nature itself is deceptive. It is only beyond the appearance of everyday life that we shall discover reality in any true sense. At least art does not pretend to be reality, whereas Nature, pretending to be the only reality,is more deceptive.

There are three factors determining a work of art:

1. A work of art is not produced by Nature; it is brought into being by the agency of man. 2. It is created essentially for man, and it is addressed to his senses 3. It contains an end bound up with it With regard to the first factor; a work of art cannot be imitated by mere dexterity, art is an activity of the soul, constrained to work out of its own wealth, and to bring before the mind’s eye a wholly other and far richer content; a unique creation.

The essential point to maintain is that although talent and genius imply natural power, yet it is indispensable that

(a) this power be thoughtfully cultivated (b) reflection should be brought to bear on the particular way it is exercised (c) it should be kept alive with use and practice in actual work.

A work of art possesses a purely technical side – that of craft. This is most obvious in architecture and sculpture, less so in painting and music, least in poetry.

Added to this the more exalted the rank of the artist the more profoundly he ought to portray depths of soul and mind. Study is the means by which the artist brings to consciousness such a content.

Is art inferior to Nature? Art originates in the human spirit, it has received the baptism of the human mind and soul of man. The spiritual values are seized in the work of art and emphasized with greater purity and clarity than is possible in ordinary reality, therefore the work of art is greater.

What is the human need that stimulates art production?

Man is a thinking consciousness; he makes explicit to himself all that exists. He has a need to bring himself in his own inner life to consciousness. He needs to assert himself in that which is presented him in immediacy, external to himself, and by doing so at the same time to recognize himself therein. This purpose he achieves by the alteration he effects in external objects, upon which he imprints the seal of his inner life. He does this in order that he may divest the world of its alienation from himself.

A boy throws stones into a stream, and then looks with wonder at the circles which follow in the water, seeing there something of hs own doing. This need runs through everything up to the level of art. Man satisfies his spirit by making explicit to his inner life all that exists, as well as further giving a realized external embodiment to the self thus made explicit. And by this reduplication of what is his own he places before the vision and within the cognition of himself and others what is within him.

The second factor; art is addressed to man’s senses. Writers have asked what feelings art ought to excite. But feelings are subjective and passing, although powerful at the time, which is why people are so proud of having emotions. The trouble is that they do not attempt to study their emotions, which would help by creating thereby a distance from them. Art can give this distance, because by depicting emotions, it helps the onlooker towards the study of his own emotions.

Is art there to excite a feeling for beauty? To appreciate beauty people have cultivated taste, but taste is superficial, and cannot grasp the real profoundity of art. Art scholarship is too often concerned only with externals. Art therefore is not just for the senses. The mind is intended to be affected as well and to receive some kind of satisfaction in it. The creative imagination of a true artist is the imagination of a great mind and a big heart, it grasps the profoundest and most embracing human interests in the wholly definite presentation of imagery borrowed from objective experience.

The third factor: What is the end or aim of art?

Art is not meant to be a mere imitation of Nature – if it attempts a mere copy it will always lag a long way behind. Nevertheless the artist must learn the laws of Nature; of colour and chiaroscuro; of line and form. So what is the true content of art, and what is its aim? One opinion is that it is the the task of art to bring before us everything that the spirit of man can concieve. Is it the task of art to enflame man’s passions and set them staggering about in a Bacchantic riot?

Sensual desire is more brutal and domineering the more it appropriates the entire man, so that he does not retain the power to separate himself, and loses touch with his universal capacity. Sometimes art showing such passions can awaken man to the horror of his condition, he can see them outside himself, they come before him as objects rather than part of himself – he begins to be free from them as aliens.

In the same way, wailing women were hired at funerals, to create an external expression of grief, so that the sufferer can see his sorrow in an objective form and in reflecting on it, his sorrow is made lighter. So art, while still remaining in the sphere of the senses, faces man from the might of his sensitive experience by means of its representations.

It has been said that art’s aim is the purification of passions, that it is its duty to instruct. Is this true? We have seen how art instructs by revealing to man the contents of his nature, but if art tries to bluntly teach, it becomes merely a maxim, with the art added on as bait. Thereby the very nature of art is abused. For a work of art ought not to bring before the creative imagination a content in its universality as such, but rather this universality under the mode of individual concreteness and distinctive sensuous particularity.

An external morality would limit the subject matter of art, but art, unlike history and the sciences, which have their subject matter determined, has a free choice in the selection of its subjects. So when we ask what is the end of art, we must be careful that we are not saying in effect, what is the use of art, as if art had to have a reason for existing other than for itself. On the other hand we must maintain that it is art’s function to reveal

Truth under the mode of art’s sensuous or material configuration, to display reconciled differences and therefore prove that it possesses its final aim in itself. For other ends such as instruction, purification, improvement, riches, fame and honour have nothing to do with a work of art as such, still less with the concept of art.

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889 – 1951)

Wittgenstein has said that in his opinion the subject of aesthetics is very big and entirely misunderstood. The use of the word “beautiful” is even more apt to be misunderstood. He would like a book on philosophy to contain chapters on words, and confusions that come up with them. He compares language to a tool chest; words are used together in a family of ways – yet the tools could be very different.

As to the word “beautiful”, a child hears the word mainly as an interjection. It is remarkable that in real life adjectives such as “beautiful”, “lovely” etc. play hardly any role at all. The words used are more like “right” or “correct”.

For example, take the question, “How should poetry be read?” For example you might discuss in reading blank verse, how to stress the rhythm correctly. A man says: “It ought to be read this way!” and reads it out, and you say, “Oh yes! Now it makes sense!”

What does a man ordering a suit at the tailor’s say? “That’s the right length. That’s too short!”.

In the case of the word “correct” you have a variety of related cases. In one case you learn the rules. A tailor learns how to measure and cut the coat. A customer comes in and says “This coat is too short!” but the tailor disagrees because he says “I made it according to the rules!”

So judgement is needed as well as rules.

Nevertheless we need the rules. In art, if someone hasn’t learned the rules he wouldn’t be able to make an aesthetic judgement. In learning the rules, you get a more and more refined judgement; in fact learning the rules actually changes your judgement.

The rules of harmony in music came about because they expressed the way most people wanted the chords to follow – their wishes crytallized in these rules. All the greatest composers wrote in accordance with these rules, and yet you can say that every composer changed the rules, but the variation was very slight, not all the rules were changed.

In the Arts, a person who has judgment also changes and develops. We can distinguish between a person who knows what he is talking about and one who does not.

A word we can discuss is the word “appreciate”. What is appreciation? If a man at the tailor’s looks at a great many patterns and says, “This is too dark” or “This is a little too loud’, he is what we call an appreciator of material. Similarly in music he might say, “Does this harmonize? No, the bass is not quite loud enough.”

Although we can see when someone appreciates something, it is impossible to describe. To do this we would have to describe the whole environment. On the subject of correctness, a good tailor won’t use any words except words like “Too long” or “All right”. But when we talk of a symphony by Beethoven we don’t talk of correctness. Entirely different things enter. One wouldn’t even talk of appreciating the really tremendous things in art. In a style of architecture a door may be correct, and you appreciate it, but in the case of a Gothic Cathedral, we do not just find it correct – it has a different role to play in our lives. It is as different as if we were talking about a man and said on the one hand “He behaves well.” and on the other “He made a great impression on me.”

To describe what you mean by a cultured taste, you have to describe a culture. What we describe as a cultured taste perhaps didn’t exist in the Middle Ages. An entirely different game is played in different ages. In order to become clear about aesthetic words you have to describe ways of living. A landlady might love a sentimental painting, you might want to throw it in the fire …. alright! That’s that..

Jacques Maritain b. 1882

Art and poetry come from a deeper part of the intellect – not the reasoning part alone.

There is an interpenetration of art and nature – so that a place comes alive because of its history.

Oriental artists try to forget themselves, and meditate on the subject of nature, rendering it as truly as they can, becoming one with things but leaving their egos out.

In the West, artists evolved from studying things, to the portrayal of the Divine after the Christian Church was established. Man passed from a sense of the human self as object, to the sacred art which depicted Christ’s self as man, to a sense of human self as subject, and then became absorbed in his own inward development. Later artists such as Cezanne became intent on revealing the buried significance of the visible world. Man’s longing for order and harmony emerges from the brute universe of the eye in the act of seeing and brings forth a quality of emotion which finds an echo in other human beings. Three rules on art.

First: the very idea of rules in the fine arts changes and becomes transfigured through the impact of beauty on the activity of art. So the rules must be continually reborn, and the artist is forever exploring the unknown.

Second: the work to be made is unique, and an end in itself. Each time, and for every single work, there is for the artist a new and unique way to strive after the making of his art.

Third: because the work is an end in itself, and a unique participation in beauty, reason alone is not enough for the artist. Because in art as in contemplation, intellectuality at its peak goes beyond concepts and reason, and is achieved through union with the subject, which love alone can bring about.

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My Reflection Of Art

My reflection of my writing.

Over the course of the semester, we have studied a variety of styles of writing, from the perspective paper to the

Final Reflection

My understanding of the meaning of art has changed dramatically through this course as well as my perception of art and how I view art. Through this course, I have gained a great deal of knowledge as well as the accompanying vocabulary necessary to view, evaluate, critique, find meaning in, and interpret a work of art based on its visual elements and the principles of design and style. I have a newfound appreciation of art and now realize that art can be visual, functional, cultural or found in the architecture of not only where I live, but throughout the world. Just a few months ago, I did not even realize how many types of art, styles, and various forms and functions there were. Through this eight week course, I have learned how to study a piece of art to decipher its meaning, gain appreciation for the

Reflection Of Western Art

This week, we studied and talked about Paleolithic Art, Greek Art, Roman Art, Byzantine Art, and Islamic Art in our history class by reading Janson’s History of Art. Even though I have no background or contexts of knowledge of these western art, I still learned a lot from western art. According to the reading material and video, I have a probably understanding about these distinct, different and interesting western art.

My Reflection Of Me

I don’t know about you, but I don’t often star at myself in the mirror, studying my own face. Does anybody? The longest amount of time I spend looking at myself is when I’m shaving, and even then, I’m just concentrating on not being a klutz and cutting myself open. I’m not being down on myself or looking for attention or any such nonsense like that. I mean, I don’t even have a Facebook. It’s just that, gazing upon my reflection is just not something I do. I get out of the shower, I shave, brush my teeth, and I’m gone, on to whatever the day has in store for me. Another thing I’m not used to is the clarity of the face.

My Reflection

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Throughout my years in writing and taking English courses I have always been a faulty writer and never have been strong in this aspect. Truthfully my writing was the same until I came to college and took English 104 with Professor Horjus. Horjus had taught me things about myself and my writing that I never gave my full attention too and explaining my thoughts. Professor Horjus had started off class on making us say things we could work on after turning in an essay and feel we lacked or felt very strongly about. Being able to talk about the lack of my writing skill or even the strong aspects in my writing let me see that everything teachers have taught me in the past has honestly not really helped. College English has defiantly shined a new light on writing for me.

Reflective Essay On Art

Before you begin organizing your ideas (outline, draft, etc.), take stock of what you know and what you need to find out.

Personal Narrative: Hi I M Kiara

I’ve have always felt like I didn’t know how to appreciate art and comprehend it importance, from individual pieces to art as a culture and field. I am not artistic myself, not in any traditional way, so I have had trouble stepping into the perspective of an artist. Still, I do understand the phenomenon of being moved, and greatly influenced, by art and I have discovered and explored some of the many ways in which it can be expressed. I hope to gain the skill of being able to really understand the depth and technique behind what I see and hear, so that I am able to complete my role as the audience and do the works justice.

Artist Reflection Essay

I grew as an artist this semester because I learn a lot techniques that I can use for the future like screen printing or using objects that I already have and putting them together as an art piece. I improve on drawing realistic objects like animals. Last year, I had a hard time drawing realistic objects like my landscape painting. I improved from that and learned a lot from my teacher.

My writing has changed in a few ways since the beginning of this class. I wouldn't go so far as to say I like to write but it is not as much of a challenge anymore. While it is still a challenging thing it is nowhere near as hard to do as it was. Being in this class I have become more aware of the mistakes in grammar I make. While I am still not great with grammar I have gotten better. Being part of a writing group has helped me in more ways than just developing my writing, but in being more confident. I am more confident in reading my writings out loud as well is being able to talk about myself.

Reflection Of My Mentees

My mentees never felt discriminated against, but they definitely did mention there were a couple of times they felt uncomfortable enough to interact with their peers. After a couple of months, I realized that my mentees' 'were experiencing racial microaggression from their peers-- unintentional and subtle but yet harmful discrimination. I had once heard of microaggession through a presentation at the Counseling Center on campus, but I was not well educated on it. For the following days I did a lot of research on it on my own.

Beautiful Mind Reflection

The film A Beautiful Mind is drama, romance, biographical film produced by Universal Pictures, DreamWorks, and Imagine Entertainment. The film, directed by Ron Howard, include memorable names such as, Russel Crowe as John Nash, Jennifer Connelly as Alicia Nash, Ed Harris as Parcher, Paul Bettany as Charles, Christopher Plummer as Dr. Rosen, and Adam Goldberg as Sol. This film gives much of its credit to the novel written by Sylvia Nasar. The book, A Beautiful Mind, is a biography of John Forbes Nash and the book covers Nash’s years in college and his struggle with schizophrenia. For the film, the writing credits go to Akiva Goldsman. Though this film has its flaws, it is still one of the best eye-opening films out there.

This lesson was the first one I did during practicum week and I thought it went very well. I did this lesson in the morning pretty much after calendar time. We had to wait a couple minutes for some of the students to get back from extra reading practice. When I went up to the front of the room a lot of the students got excited. Considering I was somebody new, they thought it would be fun for me to teach them. I first asked the students what long vowel sounds they have been working on and almost all of the students raised their hands. I was very proud of the fact that I did not have any trouble with names when I was calling on them. I started the lesson with those questions in order to get them ready for the lesson, it was a quick warm up in order to start thinking about what we will be doing.

Art Reflection

When I had first passed my TSI test that I needed in order to get college classes, I was pretty excited to find out that I was taking art appreciation. At first it was nothing like I had expected, I thought it was just another class. We learn about famous paintings that are very popular in the modern times, stuff dating back a really long time.

This semester my art practice has primarily focused on utilising carefully constructed language as opposed to previous stream-of-consciousness techniques, while further investigating participatory projects, and assemblage as a new form of installation. The importance of memory and the handwritten repeatedly warranted further consideration during the course of the semester and became a fundamental element in each work. Conceptually, my practice has evolved into a critique of diaristic language by exhibiting private confessions in public spaces and inviting strangers to participate in the perverse act of reading my most personal thoughts. This notion is challenged by the introduction of secondary texts and blurs the line between what is real and what is fiction within the work. These evolving elements within my practice are best observed through works warm under orange (standstill), the pitiful militia, my mother and raymond carver, and the library respectively.

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Introduction to Art

Question #2

Art is an expression of emotions by use and arrangement of different elements like color, sound, form and etc. As it is, it tells a lot about the personality of the one who created it and the time he belongs to. The kinds of people who existed in different periods of history are reflected by the different forms of art created during that time. It tells a lot of interesting stories. By essence, art can be considered as a story-teller; thus, one should be able to view art, not merely seeing it.

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Seeing art is simply laying one’s eyes to the work. It may be appreciated, but in a very shallow way. The value of the art is not fully understood because what’s prized is the façade. The initial reaction and perceptions towards a work of art may be totally different to what it really is. Thus, one should view art instead of just seeing it. In viewing art, all the elements that contribute to its development are taken into careful and meticulous consideration. The technical together with the aesthetic facet are all painstakingly given attention and value. Take for example “God Bless America” by Faith Ringgold, by merely seeing it, one will see that it’s an art work with a face of an old man on the flag of the United States of America. But when view it, you will ask several questions like who is that old man? Why is his image place in front of the flag? What does it signify? What is its maker thinking? From one image, you can extract hundreds of questions that will lead you to better understanding of what it is. And as a consequence, you will appreciate it even more.

The main difference between seeing and viewing art is knowing the story. In seeing, you only go through the pages of the story; while on the other hand, in viewing art, you carefully read each lines and places yourself as if part of the story. In everyday life, seeing and viewing art may be described and differentiated by the analogy of acquaintances versus friends. Acquaintances are people that we recognize because we met them somewhere, sometime. While friends are people who we deeply know and can connect with. Consequently, everybody should view art instead of just see it. With viewing, a lot can be learned and interesting stories can be heard.

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AMA Journal of Ethics ®

Illuminating the art of medicine, what does multiple production of artworks teach us about authenticity and germline editing.

This article considers ethical questions about artwork reproduction and how they can be applied to germline editing. Walter Benjamin’s 1935 essay, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” is a good starting point, as it discusses how the concept of authenticity is ethically and aesthetically relevant when considering works of art intended to be created as multiples or in editions of identical works: photographs and cast sculpture. When producing multiples of a work of art, authenticity tends to be perceived in proximity to an artist’s original intention. In germline editing, this concept can help generate insights to guide future research.

Reproduction and Authenticity

In 1935, philosopher and cultural critic Walter Benjamin published his seminal essay, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” 1 Grappling with new technologies—and especially with the proliferation of photography—Benjamin defined what set original works of art apart from copies or reproductions, proposing that original artworks possess an aura , which “withers in the age of mechanical reproduction.” 1 This aura, he posited, is linked to the artwork’s original context or purpose, from which a reproduction is necessarily removed.

In the years since this still-influential essay was published, printing and digital technologies that allow for the limitless production of seemingly identical copies of artworks have emerged. At the same time, some works of photography and cast sculpture are designed from the start to be produced as multiples or in editions of identical works. These technological progressions may prompt us to wonder, Can Benjamin’s conception of the aura extend to such works? Which ethical questions should we consider when faced with the possibility of creating an endless stream of duplicates? Exploring these quandaries in the context of artistic production can perhaps help us think ethically about similar questions related to cellular reproduction and germline editing.

Authenticity and Proximity

Photography. Benjamin asserted, “From a photographic negative, for example, one can make any number of prints; to ask for the ‘authentic’ print makes no sense.” 1 In hindsight, Benjamin underestimated the artistry of photographic printing and failed to anticipate the value scholars of photography would place on the date of a print and, by proxy, its proximity to an artist’s original intention. Printing a photograph from a negative involves controlling variables like exposure, and, in the process, mutations can occur that move the final product further away from the artist’s original vision. According to Baldwin and Jürgens in Looking at Photographs: A Guide to Technical Terms , “a photographic print made close to the date of its negative, by or under the direct supervision of the photographer, is thought to most clearly capture the photographer’s original inspiration.” 2 Although vintage and newer prints might appear similar to the untrained eye, this distinction is important for curatorial and connoisseurial purposes.

It’s worth questioning whose interests the idea of authenticity promotes when arbitrary distinctions are drawn between identical works.

Still other photographs were made famous precisely because of their reproduction and the popular press that distributed them widely. For example, the Art Institute of Chicago recently featured Margaret Bourke-White’s Fort Peck Dam, Montana in the exhibition, “Iconic: Photographs from the Robin and Sandy Stuart Collection.” 3 The photograph of an imposing public works project entered 380 000 American homes on the cover of Life magazine in November 1936. 4 Mass production altered the appearance of the image due to the newsprint substrate and the commercial printing process, which is qualitatively different from the luscious tones of the gelatin silver print in the museum’s collection. Although there are technical and aesthetic distinctions between a fine art print and a mass-produced magazine cover, the latter allowed the image to achieve ubiquity. In this case, ubiquity was an ethical value that superseded the imperative to hew closely to the artist’s original medium and format.

Sculpture. Cast sculpture, a medium often intended to be produced in multiples like photographs, can present similar questions about authorship and authenticity. Auguste Rodin, the 19th-century French sculptor, left the molds for his celebrated body of work, including such well-known sculptures as The Thinker and The Walking Man , to the French government after his death. 5 French regulations have since capped the number of authorized sculptures made from each mold at 12. 5 But what about sculptures made beyond this somewhat arbitrary limitation? In 2001, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto caused a stir when it exhibited a group of Rodin plasters and bronzes cast from Rodin’s molds in 1999 and 2000. The curator of sculpture at the Rodin Museum in Paris, Antoinette Romain, called the exhibition “a scandal, a forgery, a delusion.” 6 The argument from photography connoisseurship about the distance of a work of art from the intention of the creator being a measure of its authenticity can be drawn upon here: Should casts made during Rodin’s lifetime be regarded as more authentic than those made later? If additional molds are produced from existing sculptures and casts made from those molds, small mutations and flaws can appear in the mold, resulting in sculptures at a remove from the appearance of the original. But what about casts made from the original molds? On one hand, as art critic Blake Gopnik argued in 2001, “So long as there’s good reason to believe that a sculpture shows just what Rodin had in mind for a piece … then the issues of authenticity that the Musée Rodin is making so much noise about are artistically irrelevant.” 7 On the other hand, to take Benjamin’s formulation, it does seem aesthetically and ethically relevant that these reproductions are so far removed from the context of Rodin’s workshop: they lack the essential aura of original works of art.

The idea of authenticity is frequently invoked in order to protect the vision and intention of an artist. But it’s worth questioning whose interests it promotes when arbitrary distinctions are drawn between identical works. In these cases, perhaps the concept of authenticity is being used to create a false sense of scarcity that impedes wider access to works of art. Such discussions of authenticity and multiples in art can perhaps shed light on parallel, if more freighted, debates about the ethics of human germline editing.

Auras and What Makes Us Human

Like printing technologies in the first half of the 20th century, genome editing capabilities have developed at a rapid clip in recent years. Using technologies like CRISPR/Cas9, it is now possible to precisely target problematic DNA segments and to cut them out or replace them in order to repair a mutation or eliminate disease. 8 Germline editing refers to these technologies’ uses in egg or sperm cells or in embryos. Changes made to the genome of reproductive cells or embryos, including unintended secondary consequences or off-target effects, are passed down to future generations. 9,10 The November 2018 announcement of the birth of gene-edited twin babies in China generated further controversy within the scientific community about the ethics of germline editing. 11 In the wake of this event, some scientists have called for a global moratorium on human germline editing. 12

Ethical discomfort with germline editing could have its roots in a fear that modifying characteristics of future offspring could quickly progress from “correcting” mutations to creating genetic enhancements perceived by some as desirable. 12 Risks of unintended consequences also loom large: in attempting to make a positive change, scientists could incidentally cause off-target effects that reverberate for generations to come. 12 (In an art context, a parallel situation would occur if a photographic negative or a sculpture mold were altered; imperfections would carry on through all subsequent editions.) A larger ethical concern about germline editing is whether humans should be meddling in such natural processes as the makeup of an individual’s DNA in the first place. What about authentic human experience—about human aura (as Benjamin might say)—is interrupted or undermined when humans have the hubris to design, customize, originate, and replicate the genome of their descendants?

Intention, Revisited

When first confronted with the technologies that made it possible to create visually similar reproductions of artworks, Benjamin critically underestimated the artistry of processes like photographic printing and cast sculpture. Subtleties of germline editing, too, might not be immediately obvious and could manifest generations after an original intervention. As germline research continues to progress, we should consider which criteria we use to assess authenticity and what these criteria suggest about the source of our unease with new technologies and the proximity of their effects to our best intentions.

Benjamin W. The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction. In: Frascina F, Harrison C. Modern Art and Modernism: A Critical Anthology . London, UK: Harper & Row; 1982:218-220.

Baldwin G, Jürgens M. Looking at Photographs: A Guide to Technical Terms . Los Angeles, CA: J. Paul Getty Museum; 2009.

Art Institute Chicago. Iconic: photographs from the Robin and Sandy Stuart collection. May 11-August 4, 2019. https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/9040/photography-photography-iconic-photographs-from-the-robin-and-sandy-stuart-collection . Accessed August 28, 2019.

Life (magazine). New World Encyclopedia . https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Life_(magazine) . Accessed August 28, 2019.

Carvajal D. Recasting Rodin’s life and work. New York Times . October 30, 2015. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/31/arts/design/recasting-rodins-life-and-work.html . Accessed April 1, 2019.

Eidemariam A. I think, but I’m not quite sure who I am. Guardian . October 2, 2001. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2001/oct/02/artsfeatures.arts . Accessed April 1, 2019.

Gopnik B. What’s the Rodin fuss really about? Money. Globe and Mail . August 29, 2001. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/whats-the-rodin-fuss-really-about-money/article1338787/ . Accessed April 1, 2019.

Callahan D. Gene editing: hope, hype, and caution. Center for Genetics and Society Aggregated News . December 8, 2015. https://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article/gene-editing-hope-hype-and-caution . Accessed April 1, 2019.

US National Library of Medicine. What are genome editing and CRISPR-Cas9? https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/genomicresearch/genomeediting . Published August 2017. Accessed April 1, 2019.

National Human Genome Research Institute. What are the ethical concerns of genome editing? https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/policy-issues/Genome-Editing/ethical-concerns . Published August 2017. Accessed April 1, 2019.

Kolata G, Wee S, Belluck P. Chinese scientist claims to use CRISPR to make first genetically edited babies. New York Times . November 26, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/26/health/gene-editing-babies-china.html . Accessed April 1, 2019.

Lander E, Baylis F, Zhang F, et al. Adopt a moratorium on heritable genome editing. Nature . 2019;567:165-168.

Also in this Issue

How Should Gene Editing Be Managed by Risk Managers?

How Should “CRISPRed” Babies Be Monitored Over Their Life Course to Promote Health Equity?

Prioritizing Women’s Health in Germline Editing Research

How Should Physicians Respond When They Learn Patients Are Using Unapproved Gene Editing Interventions?

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Gender Issues in Art History and Production

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