Mimesis
We are all too familiar with the concept of mimicking: a child trying to copy their parent, or an insect mimicking the movements of a predator. For centuries, imitation has been a fundamental pedagogical method in almost every artistic practice. For example, woodcarving students often sculpt from a “pattern,” an “original,” or a “maquette.” However, this “original sculpture” is often a plaster cast copy, which itself might be a copy of a copy, passed down from a senior student. The purpose of this “original” is clear: students study it carefully. By measuring and observing every curve, detail, and volume, apprentices internalize the form. When ready, they can, almost blindfolded, carve the sculpture out of wood with precision.
In the arts, mimesis—derived from the Greek word for “imitation”—has a long and pervasive history. It is so deeply embedded in every culture that today we cannot mention art without referencing it in some way. At its core, mimesis describes the relationship between artistic images and reality—art as a copy of the real world.
Throughout the centuries, the definition of mimesis has remained relatively stable because it seemed self-evident to philosophers and intellectuals. One interpretation sees mimesis as art reflecting the world as it is—a mirror turned toward reality. The second interpretation understands art as a heterocosm (an alternative world) that simulates our familiar reality. In this latter view, mimesis is not about imitating an objective “real world”; instead, it offers a persuasive, lifelike simulation that reflects the spectator’s own beliefs and expectations.
Mimesis also describes other imitative relationships: between art and life, masters and disciples, artwork and audience, and the material world and a rational order of ideas. Because of this, mimesis is always dual in nature: good and bad, natural and unnatural, necessary and dispensable. It can be the sincerest form of flattery or a source of plagiarism—the difference between a great artist and mere imitators like apes, parrots, or children.
Finally, because mimesis is rooted in “reality,” whether real or imagined, each culture develops its own ways of describing reality. What seems natural or true in one culture or historical period may seem strange or artificial in another. True to its definition, mimesis is a superb mime—constantly changing its name and interpretive scope to suit new environments and contexts.
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