Art 2840 Reading 3

The third reading is called The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility by Walter Benjamin. Although the reading starts off about politics (something that I know nothing about), it continues on about the reproducibility of art and how it changes the piece. Art was first able to be reproduced by woodcut, and later on came movable type. Lithography came around and marked a new stage of reproduction. “Lithography enabled graphic art to provide an illustrated accompaniment to everyday life (p. 102).” An example would be a newspaper. With movable type and lithography, images and type can be changed everyday. When photo came along, it went hand in hand with film, as did lithography with movable type. One problem with reproduction is that it is missing “the here and now.” Because it is reproduced, it is no longer unique. No traces of time can be found on reproductions. There are two reasons why technological reproductions are not forgeries: they are more independent of the original than is manual reproduction, and technological reproductions can place the copy of the original in situations the original can not obtain. The reading uses a cathedral as an example. You can’t take a cathedral to your house, but you can take a photo of a cathedral to hang on the walls. As the reading goes on, I get the feeling Walter Benjamin doesn’t like film. Benjamin states that film liquidates the value of tradition in the cultural heritage. Reproductions strip the originals of their aura, their uniqueness. Although it seems Benjamin does not like art reproductions, I feel they are a good thing. A reproduction isn’t meant to replace the original or take away from it, but to make the piece of art more assessable.

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