Does originality exist in art?

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This post was born out of a discussion on music, the concept of selling out, and the idea of originality in the music industry.  But, I think we can look at originality in a broader sense, as a concept that pertains to all artforms, including writing.

While someone may pioneer a style in whatever artform they are producing, I think it is very hard to find something truly original, because in my definition, originality would imply a lack of any outside influence, which I feel is impossible considering the amount of interaction we as humans have with each other. Although, speaking linguistically, originality just implies that the work is not a copy of something else.  We’ll ignore that one for now, though.  That is easy.

But looking at the origins of “originality” in terms of value in the arts, it appears it emerged during Romanticism, which I feel was largely influenced by the Enlightenment (albeit, it was more of a rebellion, than an agreement with the ideals of that period.) So, personally, I don’t even find its origins truly original. Umberto Eco writes on this in The Limits of Interpretation: “Much of art has been and is repetitive. The concept of absolute originality is a contemporary one, born with Romanticism ; classical art was in vast measure serial, and the “modern” avant-garde (at the beginning of this century) challenged the Romantic idea of “creation from nothingness,’ with its techniques of collage, mustachios on the Mona Lisa, art about art, and so on.” (p.95)

Despite being both an art major and a history major in undergrad, I was never one for art history. But, I’ll travel with Eco’s statement a moment, and try to look at avant-garde. Here, an art form that was so radical in notion, was also openly mocking the idea of originality. Marcel Duchamp’s fountain, an upturned urinal, was both completely lacking in originality, and yet completely groundbreaking. It shook the art world to the core. Minimalism later shook up western ideals by drawing from eastern influence, namely Japanese design, and probably Buddhism and Zen. (Feel free to correct me if I am wrong about this one.) And Minimalist art was probably influenced also by an opposition to abstract expressionism.

While I am not a music historian, I would then take a guess that the Minimalist school of music, while perhaps not drawing influence from other musicians, was drawing from the artform of minimalism. And in turn, influence can be negative or positive – so being negatively influenced by a certain style can lead you to a creation of a polar opposite.

But, if Originality, being a modern Western idea, only came about in the Romantic period, as a term of value, what was it like before?  I want to use the example of Shakespeare, because most people consider him as one of the greatest writers of the English language.  But was he original?  Sure he wrote his own work (unless you are of the Marlowe, Bacon, etc. camps), but was he really that groundbreaking in style? In form?  He was talented, immensely talented, but talent does not mean the same thing as originality.  He adeptly used the writing style of the day, and was able to make it his own, but he didn’t create anything from nothing.  Indeed, he didn’t strive to do so.  It just wasn’t something of value.

So, why does it have value now?  I honestly do not believe originality should be that important in the scheme of things. I buy into the idea that art, of any form, is about feeling and humanity, and that the collaborative effort, whether it be through friendship, or over a span of a millennium is what we are all about in essence. We are such amazing creatures, with a vast array of histories and cultures and we should celebrate humanity, rather than strive for separate, lonely genius.

Of course this idea stands separate from the idea of plagiarism, I should add.  Of course, that is another discussion entirely.

Anyone disagree? (I really miss my grad school debates, as the semester is over)

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Tags: art, creativity, originality, writing