"Ours, the scientists keep telling us, is a universe which is disposable. You know it might be just this one anonymous glory of all things, this rich stone forest, this epic chant, this gaiety, this grand choiring shout of affirmation, which we choose when all our cities are dust; to stand intact, to mark where we have been, to testify to what we had it in us to accomplish. Our works in stone, in paint, in print are spared, some of them for a few decades, or a millennium or two, but everything must fall in war or wear away into the ultimate and universal ash: the triumphs and the frauds, the treasures and the fakes. A fact of life... we're going to die. 'Be of good heart,' cry the dead artists out of the living past. Our songs will all be silenced - but what of it? Go on singing. Maybe a man's name doesn't matter all that much."


This monologue was taken from a documentary by Orson Welles called "F for Fake." It was on TCM last night. I've seen it before and I own the DVD. It's one of my favorite films, and could take the top stop very soon, as I watch it more and more.

The quote above refers to Cathedral Chartres, about 50 miles outside of Paris.

What is the value of art? Is it based soley on aesthetics? Or experts and historians who tell us it has value?

What if an artwork is revealed to be a forgery? It is beautifully rendered, however; but it was not really created by, let's say Picasso. Is it less valuable?

Is it art?