AUTHENTICITY AND THE 255 SHADES OF GRAY

This interdisciplinary study was conducted to test neuropsychological and sociological viewpoints on art. An experiment was carried out in order to investigate the effects of contrast and authenticity on art appreciation and whether these effects were either universal related to familiarity with art or socio-economic factors. From a neurological perspective, the perception of contrast offers an evolutionary advantage and is expected to universally elicit a positive affective reaction. From a cultural sociological perspective, the value of art is a product of socialization and depends on the values and ideals it conveys or can convey (i.e. authenticity). The experiments used a forced choice paradigm with four conditions showing paintings pair wise; 1) two identical copies of one painting per trial, one labelled ‘original’ the other ‘forgery’; 2) two copies of one painting per trial, one with increased and one with decreased contrast; 3) two copies of one paintings per trial, one heightened contrast copy labelled ‘original’ and one lowered contrast copy labelled ‘forgery’; 4) and two copies of one paintings per trial, one heightened contrast copy labelled ‘forgery’ and one lowered contrast copy labelled ‘original’. Results reveal universal preference for paintings with high-contrast over their lower-contrast counterparts, which slightly increases or decreases in strength with the label of ‘original’ or ‘forgery’, respectively. The effect of authenticity is strongest when both paintings are identical. These results indicate that the physical feature of contrast has precedence over the artworks authenticity and that their effects are unaffected by participants’ (parental) level of education, income, gender, age or familiarity with art. This study simultaneously provides evidence for a biological and a cultural basis of aesthetics.