Walter Benjamin "The Work of Art in the age of Mechanical Reproduction"

Benjamin wrote the piece because he sensed the transformation in the mode of production, and how the condition of production influenced the conception of art. He wanted to focus on two parts: one, the reproduction of the work of art, and two, the art of the film, and made a contract between the modern form of production and the traditional ones. He thought we entered the age of mechanical production, which brushed aside a number of outmoded concepts, such as creativity and genius, eternal value and mystery. (p.218), and he linked this developmental trends to Fascism, propaganda, and war.

1. Benjamin referred historically to lithography, newspaper, photography, and film. In his words, lithography enabled graphic art to illustrate everyday life, while photography freed the hand of the most important artistic functions which henceforth devolved only upon the eyes looking into a lens. A film captures the image at the speed of an actor’s speech. (p.219) A good quote captured Benjamin’s awareness of new technology: Around 1900 technical reproduction had reached a standard that not only permitted it to reproduce all transmitted work of art and thus to cause the most profound change in their impact upon the public. Work of art has always been reproducible, but not in ways mechanical reproduction represents. According to Benjamin, the Greeks only produced bronzes, terra cottas, and coins in quantity. However, in mechanical reproduction, we can see 100 Nemos, 50 Micky mice, 30 Buzz Lightyears, tons of greeting cards and postcards line up in stores. We cannot tell which one is the original.

2. 3. Benjamin argued that even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be—this includes changes in art’s physical condition over years as well as the various changes in its ownership. (p.220) He said that the presence of the original is the prerequisite to the concept of authenticity. (p.220) A good quote that Benjamin talked about the authenticity—The authenticity of a thing is the essence of all that is transmissible from its beginning, ranging from its substantive duration to its testimony to the history which it has experienced. [He provided two reasons why the manual reproduction can preserve the original’s authenticity while technological reproduction can not.] Benjamin went on to the discussion of aura. He said aura withers in the age of mechanical reproduction. Benjamin explained aura by illustrating the aura in nature—the unique phenomenon of a distance. (p.222) To summarize Benjamin’s notion of aura, aura lived in the uniqueness, the singularity, the permanence, the distance, and the authenticity of the original piece in museums or temples, while the plurality, the closeness, the penetration, and the availability of the work of art in mechanical reproduction killed the aura.

4. 5. Benjamin also thought that art has a crisis with the advent of the revolutionary means of reproduction, in this case, photography, and the rise of socialism.(p.224) Benjamin said the uniqueness of a work of art is inseparable from its being imbedded in the fabric of tradition.(p.223) He further explained that the contextual integration of art in tradition found its expression in the cult, which I think he refers to religious rituals. Benjamin said the unique value of the authentic work of art has its basis in ritual, the location of its original use value. The traditional work of art is under protection of a palace, or a cathedral. People have to travel thousands of miles in order to see a real piece of art, like the Mona Lisa in Paris. But now we have Mona Lisa on our notebook, on our tea cups, and on our t-shirts. What matters in traditional arts are its existence, its linkage to God, its magic and spirits, and the awe in itself. According to Benjamin, with the emancipation of the various art practices from ritual go increasing opportunities for exhibition of their products. (p.225) In this sense, a piece of art became a commodity, or a product. It looks like the work of art is walking down the ladder, the work of art descends from the sky, the god’s power, to the museum, and then to every household. To Benjamin, the change of condition of reproduction led a new era while art became humane and down to earth, and became available easily. He said, “For the first time in history, mechanical reproduction releases the work of art from its parasitical dependence on ritual… Instead of being based on ritual, the work of art begin to based on another practice—politics.” (p.223)