Cultural Capital
In Defense of Fakes
We’re entering a world where copying isn’t only a compliment, it’s a form of creativity all on its own.
Illustration by Marine Buffard
The simplest way to create a great work of art is to copy one.
Copies, fakes, dupes, replicas, bootlegs, pastiches, forgeries, facsimiles — these have been the engines of culture since long before the age of mechanical reproduction. Rubens copied Titian; Mazo copied Velázquez; Cézanne copied dozens of artists including Frillié. Michelangelo learned about art by copying Giotto, Masaccio and others. Those reproductions are now considered some of the greatest drawings of all time and are themselves frequently reproduced.