Claude Monet via Internet
Walter Benjamin’s view of the reproduction of great works of art and its effect on their aura are exemplified in the availability of art on the internet. Claude Monet’s works are available through a multitude of searches, whether it is on an internet search, a library search, or through art magazines, textbooks or periodicals. Because Monet’s artwork was created long ago and is of high esteem and demand, it is rare to see it in person or to view an original closely. The strokes of his brush and the oil paint’s movement; the light and dark details, the exact color schemes-all are lost in reprints, photographs, and through the quality of color on a computer screen. The painting below, “Impression, Sunrise” captures one moment that Monet experienced while looking out of a window. The colors that viewers see on the computer screen are muted and blurred, they are not what one would see in the painting itself. The effect of the movement of each paint stroke is lost through the screen as well.
Walter Benjamin noted that mechanical reproduction of art depreciate its presence in time and space. This especially rings true for works that are larger than depicted in print or on-screen and for works that involve layer upon layer of paint. In a print, the texture, action, and layering of color is lost. The impression that the artist felt when the painting was created is lost entirely when it is not viewed as a painting but rather a cheapened reproduction. Benjamin also stated that the authenticity is interfered with, which changes the outcome of the art’s effect on its viewer.
Those who have seen paintings in museums or in homes know that the brush strokes, the details , and the colors are all most authentic up close; no photograph or print can ever reproduce those details exactly. Even works by unknown artists or those who have not achieved fame comparable to that of Monet are still best appreciated up close, in person, and in the original form as intended. Although works are made more available through mass media, some, or most, of the effect is lost in reproduction. It is beneficial educationally to expose art to the masses, but only with caution and an expression of the importance of seeing the real thing as well as the prints. The creation of art and the viewing of art make for an experience that is unique and special, and both get lost when they are mass-produced.
http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm
