HOA 411

This week we looked over the essay, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, by Walter Benjamin. Overall, I felt that this essay was interesting to think about, but also confusing. I believe that the main point of this essay was arguing the effect of manipulation and mass reproduction from original art and how it loses its aura. Through in the essay Benjamin acknowledged the reality of artistic reproduction throughout history, but suggests that mechanical reproduction had introduced an entirely new and revolutionary change in experiencing art. In the essay, Benjamin refers to how photography is another form of reproduction. He claims that although something like a photograph captures a moment more accurately, it is a moment that can be altered by the positioning, lighting, lenses, etc. This kind of reproduction loses the traditional value and historical proof of the art it its original form. In the essay he states, “A painting when drawn can have cultural or emotion...

The article, “Semiology and Visual Interpretation,” by Norman Bryson is divided into different sections that corolate with different practices of art history. In the first few pages of the article Bryson explains how the study of images contain non-literary narratives. In other words, he is focused on the context, senders and recievers of art and how that work is expressed. Bryson argues that there is a need for justification for works of art. On page 93, Bryson says, "reading, like the activity of mathamatics, and like recognition of an image can be said to place only when the individual is able to go on." Based on this I think that Bryson is trying to say that anyone can view a piece of art and recognize what is in front of the viewer, but Bryson than says later on the same page, "It takes one person to experience a sensation, it takes (at least) two to recognize a sign." The way this article is written, I believe that Bryson is trying to say that to perci...

In, "Beauty Discourse and the Logic of Aesthetics," by Amelia Jones. In this reading there are many instances where there are a lot of strong opinions on what is calssified as beautiful in art. Kant in the beggining of the reading says, "There can be no rule by which someone could be compelled to acknowledge that something is beautiful..." In many ways I believe that what Kant ways in this quote to be true. To who's standard is it that something must be classified as beautiful. Within our class discussion there were many instances in where we each had our own version of beauty. Though some were identical, Beauty comes down to the persons own opinion on what beauty is. I think that this is what this reading was about. That in the past there were direct instances by people in power, those that influenced the public and much more which sets a different standard in what they called beautiful. To Kant, he believed that for something to be seen as beaut...