Walter Benjamin Reading

      So I read The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin and it was basically about the idea of reproducing art and how it can take away from the originality and authenticity of the work. Reproducing art started a long time ago with starting with etching then on to lithography to photography to film. Reproduction by way of machines can be better than reproduction by hand because it catches details that we cannot always see with the naked eye.
      I really liked the comparison of a magician to a surgeon and a painter to a cameraman. It is very accurate and it's true, the painter and cameraman are very different. Photos represent reality much better than paintings do.
      It was a very insightful reading and it made me look at the reproduction of art much differently as well as our role in the art world.