Less Aura Lost when Art Appreciation is Given

I enjoyed reading Benjamin's piece. I have often thought about how reproductions "cheapen" the art and Benjamin elaborates on how this is so.

My roomate has a print of Salvador Dali's "Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening" in her room. You might recognize it below:

If you do recognize it, I would assume you have seen a reproduction of it on another wall or perhaps in a book, and if this is your first time seeing it, then enjoy this reproduction. It's a fantastic painting, but the more I see it different places, the less exciting it becomes. Part of this feeling is because it is no longer unique once everyone has it plastered on his or her wall. It becomes common place, and that's unfortunate, because it truly is incredible. Benjamin expresses, "The desire of contemporary masses to bring things 'closer' spacially and humanly, which is just as ardent as their bend toward overcoming the uniqueness of every reality by accepting its reproduction" (Benjamin 1236). Of course I understand the desire to bring the things we love closer to us. I have art on my walls, but not many pieces are the original. I couldn't possibly afford that, so I will settle for less.

I feel like, for the most part, Benjamin expresses negative sentiment for reproductions, but we can all understand the usefulness of reproductions. The case we observed with the digital reproduction of Rome was pretty neat and does help us better visualize ancient Rome better, even if the reproduction skews our perceptions to a degree. This is similar to when Benjamin discusses how a reproduction of a work can bring out different qualities and have a different aura. "For example, in photography, process reproduction can bring out those aspects of the original that are unattainable to the naked eye yet accessible to the lens, which is adjustable and chooses its angle at will" (Benjamin 1235).

Burke expresses a similar idea in regards to photographs. "When I speak of 'terministic screens,' I have particularly in mind some photographs I once saw. They were different photographs of the same objects, the difference being that they were made with different filters" (Burke 45).

If you ask me, that's a positive aspect of reproduction. A photograph of the Mona Lisa can capture details unobservable to the human eye, and it can also direct our attention to other details that we perhaps missed or to which we didn't give much attention.

In the end there are positives and negatives to art reproduction. Every once in awhile it helps to really take a look at the famous art prints on your wall and appreciate them. It's incredible that Dali's imagination and creativity allowed him to paint such a unique piece, and now we can all have it on our walls. If we enable ourselves to be in awe of a reproduction, then the original work loses less of its aura.