Walter Benjamin writes about the aura of works of art, and how reproducibility can affect the authenticity of the artwork. Throughout his essay, he discusses the production of art, and how each piece of art has a specific aura that separates it from any reproductions. Some arguments have been made that reproducibility can degrade the authenticity of a work of art, while others have argued that it spreads the influence a work of art. While both claims can be made, it is more valid that the reproducibility of a work of art degrades its authenticity, and that the original has an aura that cannot be reproduced. Benjamin begins the essay by analyzing Marx’s predictions of capitalism, starting with the idea that according to Marx, “What could be …show more content…
He describes how technological reproducibility separates the authenticity of a piece from its creation, saying “They lead to a crucial insight: for the first time in world history, technological reproducibility emancipates the work of art from its parasitic subservience to ritual. To an ever-increasing degree, the work reproduced becomes the reproduction of a work designed for reproducibility. From a photographic plate, for example, one can make any number of prints; to ask for the “authentic” print makes no sense” (Section IV, pg. 256). In this last point, Benjamin is stating that when an artwork is being reproduced for the sake of reproduction, it ultimately damages the authenticity of the original piece, and thus it makes no sense to try to create an “authentic” copy. For example, you can photograph the Mona Lisa, and show it off as the Mona Lisa, but this recreation does not have the same authentic value as the original. Combined with the idea of the aura – the “mark” that distinguishes an original creation from its reproduction – technological reproduction has no authentic value compared to the original. My photo of the Mona Lisa was not created in the same manner, by the same person, and has not existed for 500 years as has the original piece. This authenticity is also degraded by every reproduction of the artwork. For example, if I have seen …show more content…
Benjamin ultimately claims that mass production of an original artwork hurts the authenticity o f an artwork, and is therefore not preferable. This argument is shown in the beginning when he is discussing Marx’s attacks on capitalism – the idea that capitalism exploits the proletariat and will ultimately lead to its own destruction. Benjamin counters this, with his assertion that Marx’s communistic society will lead to its own downfall because it does not encourage ideas such as creativity and originality. This argument against Marx’s society ultimately shows the importance of creativity, which connects well with the claim that reproducing art diminishes its
To recreate an original masterpiece such as Kinkade’s “Julianne’s Cottage”, and to print it onto the canvas takes away its original beauty and changes it into an everyday, insignificant object. Although highlights of the paintings are done to entails stippling paint dots to give an image “more texture and luminescence”, but Glenda, one of the highlighter mentioned in the article would even allow customers to perform the highlights themselves, these reproductions are no longer authentic, it is the unique involvement that is counted significant by the public to make the painting “truly one-of-a-kind”. Kinkade’s business world is marketing businesses with the recreations of his art paintings that can provide continuing supplies “in the pursuit of gain” discussed by Benjamin. In my opinion, the digital reproductions of Kinkade’s art works are not intended for political or even social action, but for economic action.
The earliest forms of art had made it’s mark in history for being an influential and unique representation of various cultures and religions as well as playing a fundamental role in society. However, with the new era of postmodernism, art slowly deviated away from both the religious context it was originally created in, and apart from serving as a ritual function. Walter Benjamin, a German literary critic and philosopher during the 1900’s, strongly believed that the mass production of pieces has freed art from the boundaries of tradition, “For the first time in world history, mechanical reproduction emancipates the work of art from its parasitical dependance on ritual” (Benjamin 1992). This particular excerpt has a direct correlation with the work of Andy Warhol, specifically “Silver Liz as Cleopatra.” Andy Warhol’s rendition of Elizabeth Taylor are prime examples of the shift in art history that Benjamin refers to as the value of this particular piece is based upon its mass production, and appropriation of iconic images and people.
...the work. (246) Therefore, as long as the replica has the same qualities and presents the same effect to any viewer, then authenticity does not really matter.
But what is the real value of a copy? Is the statue on Riverside Drive worth more than the other representations that are exhibited in the Wallach Gallery? What brings the rotational photography to the initial work of art? Is something lost with the evolution of reproductive imagery, like the emotion of the instant, the spontaneity of the artist’s hand - the 'aura' of the original (as Walter Benjamin called it)?
Steven Shamlian, Anubhav Kaul. Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd president of the United States, from 1889-1893. He was 56 when he was elected president. Benjamin Harrison was born to a Presbyterian family on Aug. 20, 1833, on his grandfather's farm in North Bend, Ohio. He was named for his great-grandfather, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
This, however, leads to a rise in the level of unemployment in the society which causes a significant fall in the workers’ wages and therefore the businessmen can start exploiting the workers again. Marx justified that capitalism to be unfair. Marx was also an additionally an incredible admirer of capitalism. Among the documentary's numerous astonishing disclosures, Stephanie Flanders demonstrates how The Communist Manifesto contains paeans of applause to capitalism and all it has accomplished. Marx opposed requires a prompt outfitted transformation of the specialists. Rather he accepted that just when we had got all that we could out of capitalism might we be able to bear the cost of the revolution.
Karl Marx illuminates the exploitation of the working man by the bourgeoisie due to their greed. Marx gives his opinion on the matter by making educated statements on the topic that are interwoven with a multitude of hyperboles. Marx states “No sooner has the laborer received his wages in cash, for the moment escaping the exploitation by the manufacturers, than he is set upon by the other portions of the bourgeoisie, the landlord, the shopkeeper, the pawnbroker, etc.” (16). With Mark making this statement, he is letting his readers know that the workers earn all this money to, in the end, have to give it back to the capitalists in the end.
Benjamin stressed the Marxist democratization of art through digital reproduction, a media which allows for de-emphasizing the original work of art. Throughout the history of arts, particularly visual arts, we have revered the individual paintings created by artists, locating them in exclusive galleries and museums which are subject to the tastes and privilege of the upper class philanthropic elite. The value of a work is based in part by which wealthy patrons have owned or commissioned it, and the history of a canvas often becomes more important than the actual formal representation on it.
In his Manifesto of the Communist Party Karl Marx created a radical theory revolving not around the man made institution of government itself, but around the ever present guiding vice of man that is materialism and the economic classes that stemmed from it. By unfolding the relat...
The use of appropriation has played a significant role in the history of the arts. Appropriation is a strategy that has been used by artists for millennia. It involves the intentional copying, borrowing and alteration of pre-existing and often popular works. Many artists believe they are re-contextualising or appropriating the original imagery, allowing the viewer to renegotiate the meaning of the original in a different, more relevant, or more current context and that in separating images from their original context, they allow them to take on new meanings. Artists such as Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and Gordon Bennett use appropriation as a form of bringing new, often personal, meaning to an artwork such as Gordon Bennett’s ‘Outsider’.
The Communist Manifesto was published in 1848, a period of political turmoil in Europe. Its meaning in today’s capitalistic world is a very controversial issue. Some people, such as the American government, consider socialism taboo and thus disregard the manifesto. They believe that capitalism, and the world itself, has changed greatly from the one Marx was describing in the Manifesto and, therefore, that Marx’s ideas cannot be used to comprehend today’s economy. Others find that the Manifesto highlights issues that are still problematic today. Marx’s predicative notions in the Communist Manifesto are the key to understanding modern day capitalism.
Heidegger exclaims that when one fails to comprehend the ideas of things clearly, then they fall prey to the inability to grasps the nature of the thing (350). If people believe the thing is a product of the equipment, which is in terms of the thoughts of general experience of beings, then those people will be unable to figure the thing was derived from natural forces. I agree with Heidegger argument as this is a prime example of missing knowledge. If the people are unaware to certain key information about a piece of art, they are prone to incorrectly attribute the work as a whole and fail to figure that the works is what breaks the part of the work that discloses the
Benjamin argues that reproduction devalues art because it no longer has an aura. The aura of an art piece ties it to a specific location and time. He believes that only the original hold a history that cannot be reproduced: “In even the most perfect reproduction, one thing is lacking: the here and now of the work of art-its unique existence in a particular place. It is this unique existence-and nothing else-that bears the ... ...
Marx’s critique of capitalism was written more than a hundred and fifty years ago; however, its value and insight are still extremely relevant to the twenty-first century. In order for us to maintain mixed-market capitalism, ensuring ethics in businesses and stability in growth, all of us need to read and understand Marx’s critique.
Using these models, Marx explains his account of feudalism's passing in favor of bourgeois capitalism; and his forecast of bourgeois capitalism's passing in favor of proletarian rule. These changes are not the results of random social, economic, and political events. Each change follows the other i...