Discussion Of An Author

The notion of the 'author' came into question in the 20th century with literary theorists such as Roland Barthes, who criticised the notion of authorship. In his essay from 1966 'The Death of the Author', Barthes argues that we should not look to the creator of an artistic or literary work when interpretting its meaning, rather , we should interpret a work on its own merit and terms. In the essay 'What is an Author?' from 1969, French philosipher Michel Foucault addresses the relationship between author, text and reader, by arguing against the practice of of incorperating biographical context of an author in an interpretation of a text. Like Barthes, he proposes that even though the relationship between work and author, or lack thereof, is necessary in undersgtanding a text, it becomes a destraction that disrupts the readrers interpretation. Therefore, a work should be studied and analyzed through its form and content rather than its context. The practice of appropriation by artists in the 1960's saw the genisis of an artistic trend which seemed to give substance to the theories of Barthes and Foucalt, where artists began to directly challenge the terms of authorship. In the wake of Modernism, the potential for image making became endless and artists began to critically interogate the concepts of art by pushing boundaries and raising questions of originality.

Since the 1960's onwards, artists have appropriated and incorprearated a range of materials together to create works where originality still exists in an all new sense. By challenging the very concept of art, these artists have asserted their authority on the importance of the artist as author. Artists such as Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque had previously appropr...

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... in its own right. Therefore, authenticity of the primary source ceases to be imperative in postmodernist art, the new, constructed message built upon perceptions of the past becomes imperative.
In undermining the artists authorial status, Michael Faucalt asks "what difference does it make who is speaking?" . The appropriation artists have challenged this notion of authorship with a range of techniques that affirmthe iimportance of artist as creator and author, dismantling the Modernists traditional notions and demands of complete originality. Instead, artists championed the idea that a work of art is ultimately the expression of the artists individuality and it is up to the artist to decide whether or not to include original sources. Originality should not be a constraint, it is society that directs pressure and demands originality, not the artists obligation.