The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

 

Reading The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, the first section I realized that man has always wanted to attempt to make art reproducible, and advances in technology has made it easier to accomplish. Some of these advances in technology would include, lithography prints, etching on copper plates, and as well as photography. Later in the article one of the biggest questions is, photography being art. This however has been a question, any time an easier way to reproduce or replicate art comes in, is it really art? This always does become a form of art later after being discussed for years. I do believe that photography is a form of art, I believe this because just like any other form of art photography requires composition and shadows. This also requires the artists to have a concept in mind to place the composition whether it be people and or landscapes.    

The next few passages in this reading talk about painting and photography compared to being a surgeon. I believe these passages were written to compare the steadiness of the hands in doing such a delicate thing that requires study and research. All three however require the steady hand to be able to accomplish either the artwork or the surgery. The next couple of passages talk about how every art form goes through criticism during its time and then is looked back on after the fact. The last passage talks about many things one of which talks about buildings being one of man’s greatest companions because man is always working on buildings to either make them more comfortable or to host more people or to use it for a new purpose whether it be to live in or to work from. Buildings have also grown taller and made from different materials as time has gone by, buildings would be made from stone or wood in the past, then got more complex with brick and paneling and more modern buildings are made from glass and steel. The next bit talks about how many and most art forms parish throughout time and nothing will be permanently there without interruption. The epilogue talks about how war is considered beautiful many because man has created machinery to overcome so many obstacles that an enemy has thrown at them, whether it be creating gas masks, or tanks or airplanes to help get an advantage of an enemy. 

I enjoyed reading this article because this really opened my mind to new ideas and viewpoints that I new realized with machines and how man uses them to overcome certain challenges. I felt this way because in our modern age we tend to take things for granted because we have never had to live without our modern conveniences, such as something as simple as a washing machine or without a heater. So this has opened my eyes to man being able to come up with new machines to overcome issues and problems that we have.