The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction

Quotes

Walter Benjamin, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," in Illuminations, pp. 217 – 254 (37 pp.)

  • They (concepts on art and product)  are, on the other hand, useful for the formulation of revolutionary demands in the politics of art. p218
  • Since the eye perceives more swiftly then the hand tin depict, the process of pictorial reproduction was accelerated so it normal sleep that it could keep pace with speech communication. p219
  • Even the almost perfect reproduction of a piece of work of fine art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and infinite, it'southward unique essence at the place where it happens to be. Page 220
  • The presence of the original is the prerequisite to the concept of authenticity. Page 220
  • Technical reproduction tin can put the re-create of the original into situations which would be out of reach for the original itself. In a higher place all, it enables the original to run across the beholder halfway, it in the form of a photograph or phonographic record. p221
  • What my surmise the illuminated element in the term "aureola" and go on to say: that which withers in the historic period of mechanical reproduction is the aureola of the piece of work of art. Folio 221
  • During long periods of history, the fashion of human sense perception changes with humanity'south unabridged manner of beingness. The manner in which human sense perception is organized, the medium in which it was accomplished, is determined not only by nature merely by historical circumstances every bit well. Page 222
  • Namely, the want of contemporary masses to bring things "closer" spatially and humanly, which is merely equally ardent as their aptitude toward overcoming that uniqueness of every reality by excepting it's reproduction. Every day that urged grows stronger to get hold of an object very close range past way of it's like this, it's reproduction. … To pry an object from its shell, to destroy it'southward for, is the marker of a perception who'south "sense of the universal equality of things" has increased to such a degree that it extracts it fifty-fifty from a unique object by means of reproduction. The adjustment of reality to the masses and the of the masses to reality is a process of a limited scope, as much for thinking equally for perception. Page 223
  • The unique value of the "authentic" work of fine art has its basis in ritual, the location of its original use value. Folio 224
  • But the instant the benchmark of authenticity ceases to be applicable to artistic production, the total function of art is reversed. Instead of existence based on ritual, it begins to be based on another practice – politics. Page 224
  • Works of art are received and valued on different planes. To polar types stand up out: with one, the accent is on the cult value; with the other, on the exhibition value of the piece of work. Page 2 to 4
  • The cult of remembrance of loved ones, absent or dead, offers a final refuge for the cult value of the picture. For the last time the aureola emanates from the early on photographs in the fleeting expression of a human face.… But as human withdraws from the photographic image, the exhibition value for the first time shows at superiority to the ritual values. Folio 226
  • When the historic period of mechanical reproduction separated art from its basis in the cult, the semblance of its autonomy disappeared forever. Page 226