The Guardian view on anonymity in art: the ‘unmasking’ of Banksy and Ferrante should stop | Editorial

Our fascination with the ‘real’ identities of artists and writers is revealing about attitudes to fame and authorship This week, contemporary art’s worst-kept secret was exposed when street artist Banksy was revealed to be 52-year-old Robin Gunningham, thanks to an 8,000-word investigation by Reuters. This would have been big news had the Mail on Sunday not got there first nearly two decades ago. Still, it made headlines. The previous week, thousands of book lovers expressed their grief at the announcement on X of the death of Italian novelist Elena Ferrante, supposedly by her translator Ann Goldstein. In fact, it was the work of infamous Italian hoaxer Tommaso Debenedetti, who had set up an account in Goldstein’s name, and who pulled the same trick in 2022. Banksy and Ferrante share the paradoxical distinction of being the most famous anonymous artists today. Ten years ago, Ferrante was subjected to a similar exposé when an Italian journalist went through her finances and concluded that she must be an Italian translator. Earlier theories have posited various writers and publishers, that she is a man or even a group of men. A real-life detective story is hard to resist.