The Recognitions comes to Deseret Book

In The Recognitions by William Gaddis, a gifted artist is recruited by an unscrupulous art dealer to paint forgeries in the style of old Flemish Renaissance masters, and then pass them off as "lost" originals to wealthy art patrons.

But, the protagonist is such a dedicated artist, that his "forgeries" are actually as passionate, detailed, nuanced, and in many ways "authentic" as the old masters whose style he is imitating. He doesn't "copy" them so much as paint with their same feeling of religious devotion.

When I recently read this portion of The Recognitions, I was reminded of a recent conversation with a friend, who told me of this new promotion at Deseret Book wherein they are selling reproductions of 1830 Book of Mormons specially constructed to look 180 years old--they are bound in leather chemically treated to look well-worn, certain pages are strategically "water-damaged" and torn, or made to look like the original scriptures of Porter Rockwell, etc, etc.

These are not mere 1830 facsimiles (I admittedly own one of those), no, these are custom built to appear as authentic, 1830 editions that have survived the ages as a family heirloom. Retail price: $500-$1,600.

I wondered aloud to my friend who this product's intended market is. "Wealthy Mormons who wish to appear extra spiritual to their friends," he quipped. "Yeah, you see why I have a problem with it!" I quipped back.

And now that I'm reading The Recognitions, I've been able to localize further what my problem is--for Gaddis's title is a direct allusion to The Clementine Recognitions, a first-century Christian text by St. Clement. Like St. Clement's Recognitions, I've found that Gaddis's is as concerned with religious--specifically Christian--authenticity and forgery, as he is with artistic.

That is, what does it mean to be authentically devotional, whether in religion or art (and for Gaddis's protagonist, these are the same thing), as opposed to plagiarizing this devotion to impress others?

When I visited Deseret Book's flagship store and checked out for myself these faux-1830 editions, I was suitably impressed with the sheer craftsmanship that went into each replica. Nonetheless, these acts of religious and artistic devotion are being produced, a la The Recognitions, in the interest of forgery and in-authenticity, for a faux-religious and faux-artistic sensibility.

For if we truly valued art and beauty for its own sake (and not for how cultured it makes us appear), then Gaddis's artist could produce his paintings and sign them by his own name; and if we were truly committed to our faith, than those $700 would be going to the sick and afflicted, the poor and widowed and orphaned, and our LDS artists could at last commit to making original art on their own terms.

I initially thought the premise of The Recognitions to be fanciful, until I began to see it among those professing my same faith. It had been my most recent Recognition.