Metropolitan Museum:
#1: Allegory of the Planets and Continents, 1752
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, Venetian, 1696–1770)
Oil on canvas; 73 x 54 7/8 in. (185.4 x 139.4 cm)
Inscribed (sides): EVROPA / AFRICÆ / AMERICA / ASIA
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1977 (1977.1.3)
This was apart of a larger ceiling piece (7,287 ft) and I thought this would be an interesting example of an “imposter” because the Met states a controversy that it may not be the original, nor was this one done by the actual artist, but rather it’s a preliminary sketch for the ceiling piece he later did, which was done by assistants.
#2: I Became A Secret Hippy, 1971
Chris Burden (American, born in Boston MA, 1946)
23.7 x 18.8 cm (9 5/16 x 7 3/8 in. ), Gelatin Silver paint
The first photograph, I Became a Secret Hippy, is a performance art piece that deals with “undercover identities” where Burden stripped naked and laid down on the floor while his friend hammered a star-shaped stud into his chest. Afterwards, he sat in a chair while another friend shaved his head. Lastly, he proceeded to wear the suit of an FBI agent and presented himself to the attendees.
The suit conveyed institutional power and authority while hiding an element of “rebellion” (the stud embedded in his chest). It depicts masculine power and identity while obscuring individuality and personality. It exhibits two identities – the masculine identity that is maintained outwardly and the other which is repressed visually for the audience. The piece represents two examples of the limited masculine gender identity that men are required to conform to by society – the star-shaped stud lodged in his body representing danger and toughness, while the expressionless authority of the FBi agent represents a masculinity that requires men to suppress their individuality and emotions. Burden’s work is known for “slyly questioning photography’s status as evidence, suggesting that photographs may sometimes conceal more than they reveal.”
Natural History Museum:
All examples of what could be perceived as “impostors.” In the first image, dioramas are painstakingly crafted fakes, sculpted from clay models of the animal using its skeleton as a guide. They would create a mold from the sculpture and then use the mold to make a casting in papier-mache, and then sew the animal skin around the model to “recreate reality.” Often times, the objects would have to be recreated. With the Neanderthal skeleton, they had to reconstruct it due to losses of the originals. It was assembled using casts of bones derived from five different sites in four countries.
Every Day Life “Impostors”
Marilyn Monroe / Charlie Chaplin ‘Not Art’ Graffiti, Cambridge, MA
I noticed this back when I went home to Boston this past weekend. There is a ton of graffiti around the city labeling street art as ‘Not Art’ which leads people to think: if it’s not art, what is it?
