Authenticity by definition means the quality of being authentic, being real and genuine. “One’s authentic nature is revealed in their ability to express and share what they think or feel in a relatively unadulterated form.”(Schwartz L.C.S.W, 2012)¹

With aesthetics there are two types of authenticity which a piece of art must posses to be truly authentic. The first is nominal authenticity which is defined as “the correct identification of the origins, authorship, or provenance of an object, ensuring, as the term implies, that an object of aesthetic experience is properly named.” The second is expressive authenticity, “In this sense, authenticity is a measure of the degree to which the artist’s work is a committed, personal expression rather than derived from other work.”(En.wikipedia.org, 2017)²

In todays society we are constantly influenced and inspired by everything and anything around making it seem almost impossible to be truly authentic in the sense of expressive authenticity. We are encouraged as practitioners to look at others work as well as past artistic movements to aid and encourage the development and refinement of our own work. However the question is whether this influence makes our work an imitation of another’s work removing its authenticity or are we able to use this influence and create something new and innovative.

“The new artist does not imitate, he creates. He does not describe, he designs.” Theo van Doesberg (Croatian Review) 1931.³

This idea links to the principles of modernism; to make new, start again, fresh and move on, work created that is truly authentic holds the same principles as the modernism movement. I think this shows that the principles of modernism hold value in contemporary practice as new and innovative art will continually produced throughout time.

Sources:

¹ Schwartz L.C.S.W, M. (2012). A Shift of Mind. [online] Psychology Today. Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/shift-mind/201208/seeking-authenticity D [Accessed 1 Nov. 2017].

² En.wikipedia.org. (2017). Authenticity in art. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authenticity_in_art [Accessed 1 Nov. 2017].

³ Modernism, Designing A New World, Victoria & Albert Museum 2006