Benjamine Walters-The Work of Art in its Technological Reproduction.
Benjamine Walters-The Work of Art in its Technological Reproduction.
Walters, in his book above, talks about reproduction of art. He insists that to some degree, reproduction has taken place in the past of art such as woodcutters, copying wood statues. However, since the birth of the photograph in the nineteenth century, reproduction has become more popular. With the birth of film and sound recording, the practice is extremely common.
Walters talks about the intrinsic value of the original, in a time of reproduction. He argues however that reproduction of a painting for example, does not affect the value of the original painting. He states that the history of a painting such as ownership, impacts on the intrinsic value of the painting. The price of a painting increases by where the painting is such as a gallery or stately house.
In terms of the system that allows reproduction-capitalism, Walters gives a pragmatic view of capitalism in the 19th century to the early 20th century. He uses Marx as a reference and discusses his writings to explain how the increase in industry will lead to the proletariat (working class) being exploited by the bourgeois (ruling class) or those who own the means of production. Walters states that Marx's views are in the mid C20 starting to manifest in culture and society. Benjamine Walters was apparently part of a Marxist thinktank in Germany in the early part of the C20 called The Frankfurt School according to Walter Benjamin and Aura: "The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility" Part 1 - Bing video.
Benjamine is therefore looking at art from a Marxist view. He refers to the struggle of the proletariat over the exploitative ruling class who have possession of The Means of Production. He also refers to Fascism as a political force by saying "allow factual material to be manipulated in the interest of " (p20). This would have been true of this period when his book was written in 1935.Europe was divided with Communists fighting in Spain for example and the Nazis being elected in Germany. Nazis censored the German canon of art by insisting all art display an Aryan ideal.
Comments
Post a Comment