Originality
DEFINITION
The quality of being original. Used to describe works which were not derived from other works. It has strongly influenced art historians' identification of what artists and artworks are most highly regarded. It is important to understand originality's influence as an ideal amongst the modernist avant-garde. Originality has come to be de-emphasized with increased uses of photography, video, and appropriation, along with ever-improving reproductive techniques. Indeed the "myth of originality" is a central principle of postmodernism.Quotes: "It seems to me that today, if the artist wishes to be serious to cut out a little original niche for himself, or at least preserve his own innocence of personality ? he must once more sink himself in solitude." Edgar Degas (1834-1917), French Impressionist painter and sculptor. "All profound original art looks ugly at first." Clement Greenberg (1909-1994), American art critic. "Mr. Rauschenberg, talking apropos of doing what other people have already done, recalls an idea he once had for an exhibition of paintings imitating different Abstract Expressionists. 'Imagine the luxury, the excessive energy and the iridescent glory of doing a Rothko,' he says. 'Of course, it would have been blaspheming, but you think what it would be like to throw yourself into that incredible mood? Then out of respect I decided I wouldn't paint like Rothko or Franz Kline because I'd be in their way and they in mine. That was also John Cage's attitude [American, 1912-1992]. John always said, there's enough room in the world so that nobody has to be that close to another person." Robert Rauschenburg (1925-), American artist, in an article by Michael Kimmelman, New York Times, Arts & Leisure section 2, August 27, 2000, p. 26. See Abstract Expressionism. Also see after, artist, brainstorming, counterfeit, creativity, derived image, ersatz, forgery, genius, heterodox, historicity, iconogenetics, memory, new, new media, Prometheus, and simulacrum.<br><br>The quality of being original. Used to describe works which were not derived from other works. It has strongly influenced art historians' identification of what artists and artworks are most highly regarded. It is important to understand originality's influence as an ideal amongst the modernist avant-garde. Originality has come to be de-emphasized with increased uses of photography, video, and appropriation, along with ever-improving reproductive techniques. Indeed the "myth of originality" is a central principle of postmodernism.Quotes: "It seems to me that today, if the artist wishes to be serious to cut out a little original niche for himself, or at least preserve his own innocence of personality ? he must once more sink himself in solitude." Edgar Degas (1834-1917), French Impressionist painter and sculptor. "All profound original art looks ugly at first." Clement Greenberg (1909-1994), American art critic. "Mr. Rauschenberg, talking apropos of doing what other people have already done, recalls an idea he once had for an exhibition of paintings imitating different Abstract Expressionists. 'Imagine the luxury, the excessive energy and the iridescent glory of doing a Rothko,' he says. 'Of course, it would have been blaspheming, but you think what it would be like to throw yourself into that incredible mood? Then out of respect I decided I wouldn't paint like Rothko or Franz Kline because I'd be in their way and they in mine. That was also John Cage's attitude [American, 1912-1992]. John always said, there's enough room in the world so that nobody has to be that close to another person." Robert Rauschenburg (1925-), American artist, in an article by Michael Kimmelman, New York Times, Arts & Leisure section 2, August 27, 2000, p. 26. See Abstract Expressionism. Also see after, artist, brainstorming, counterfeit, creativity, derived image, ersatz, forgery, genius, heterodox, historicity, iconogenetics, memory, new, new media, Prometheus, and simulacrum.