Cantor Arts Center
328 Lomita Drive at Museum Way
Stanford, CA 94305-5060
Phone: 650-723-4177
Aura: Art and Authenticity
Collection Rotation
Aura: Art and Authenticity
May 14, 2020–January 8, 2023
Artist unknown (Greece), Relief of a Warrior, n.d. Marble. Gift of Esther de Lemos Morton, Margaret de Lemos Lyon, and Marie J. Storm, 1962.26
A Mellon Curatorial Research Assistantship Project
What makes a work of art authentic or not? In 1935 the critic Walter Benjamin posited that art’s authenticity was inextricable from its “aura,” or the perception of its original presence:
Even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be. This unique existence of the work of art determined the history to which it was subject throughout the time of its existence. This includes the changes which it may have suffered in physical condition over the years as well as the various changes in its ownership. . . . The presence of the original is the prerequisite to the concept of authenticity.
Questions about authenticity become puzzling, however, when we consider how some works of art change over time, or when they do not fit neatly into categories such as “ancient,” “modern,” “original,” “copy,” “genuine,” and “fake.” Some objects also come from cultural contexts where originality cannot be the litmus test of their charismatic presence. Aura: Art and Authenticity features several such works—as well as a few outright fakes—to explore the notion of authenticity in art.
This exhibition and accompanying publication and webpage are organized by Erik Yingling, Andrew W. Mellon Graduate Curatorial Research Assistant, Cantor Arts Center, and Cantor Arts Center staff. Erik is a PhD candidate in the Department of Art & Art History at Stanford University. We gratefully acknowledge support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Coffin for Female Mummy Identified as the Chantress of Amen
This coffin once belonged to a singer in the temple of Amen during the Twenty-First Dynasty of Egypt, but at a later date...
Relief of a Warrior
The Cantor’s Relief of a Warrior is likely a fake. We see anachronisms and stereotypes including an exaggerated “Roman nose,” and an arm...
Scarab Attached to a Ring with Handwritten Card
In 1884, while in Paris, Leland Stanford Jr. purchased a ring in the shape of a scarab. His biographer, Herbert C. Nash, described...
Necklace with Amulets of Deities
In 1901 the Egyptologist Émile Brugsch sold Jane Stanford 273 objects from his wife’s Egyptian collection. Brugsch wrote to Jane that his wife...
Icon of Our Lady of Vladimir
Although this icon of the Virgin and Child imitates a famous Russian orthodox icon called “the Vladimir Mother of God,” copying did not...
Head of a King
This statue’s appearance may have multiple historical layers. The large ears and wide headdress are characteristic of pharaonic statues from the Twelfth and...
Block Statue with Cartouches of Ramses II
In 1882 the Scottish archaeologist Alexander Henry Rhind (1833–1863) observed how faux statues were being fashioned in Egypt: “The [statue] is fractured to...
Cloth Fragment
The Latin word fabrico (to make, build, fashion) is the ancestor of words like “fabric” and “fabrication,” the latter of which came to...
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The Cantor is open to the public, Wednesdays–Sundays 11:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. We’re always free. Advance registration is not required, but it helps us plan if we know who's coming.
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The Cantor Arts Center is located at the intersection of Museum Way and Lomita Drive in the heart of the arts district on the Stanford campus. The Cantor faces the Bing Concert Hall across Palm Drive, northwest of The Oval and the Main Quad.
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