Blog Assignment Week 9

In the early 19^th Century, when photography was a new media in the world, artists and designers noticed a lack of art that could be reproduced easily. Once art had been designed to be able to be reproduced the artwork lost all authenticity. Walter Benjamin in 1935 said “To an ever greater

degree the work of art reproduced becomes the work of art designed for reproducibility.”

I completely agree with Benjamin's statement. Once we begin to design objects for mass reproduction we can no longer credit them as being authentic and/or art. To me, art can only be made once. If an object is able to be reproduced then there is no awe or amazement associated with it. An item such as the Buddha carved into teak (artist unknown) shown above would take hours of precise work and skill. Because of this we can feel a sense of amazement when we see sculptures like this.

However, and object like the print of the flower (artist unknown) shown below, although is beautiful to look at, loses its authenticity and awe. Because it is reproduced many times over it has no emotive connection with the artist who originally made it. Therefore to call them authentic art is wrong.

In the world today there are places for genuine art and places for art designed for reproducibility, but to think of them both as equal is, to me, definitely incorrect. And as Benjamin stated if we continue to try to reproduce our art it will ultimately be designed with reproduction in mind.