Homework #5

I have read this article before in my intro to visual studies course this year. Walter Benjamin's theories and concepts talked about are very interesting to me. Due to new technology art's meaning and audience changes. The lithograph made it easier for common, middle class people to view art. Before these enhancements to the art world, only high class people got to experience, and own art. Benjamin describes how for the first time the reproductions of art are becoming more important than the actual master pieces. The only thing that the original has compared to it's reproduction is this sense of "aura." The authenticity of an original artwork that is tied to its history and tradition. Although this aura is rather important, one can argue that the representations assist in building up the aura of the original even more. For example, everyone and their mother knows what the Mona Lisa is and reproductions of this masterpiece over time have helped disperse the picture out into society, which further popularizes the want, and need to experience the original's aura. In a sense, the reproductions, prints, online pictures, and even video's displaying an original artwork are advertisements for that artwork.