Benjamin's Theory of Art

In his essay, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Walter Benjamin looks at the changing role of art in the industrialized world. He does this by comparing it with the art of the past, understanding its inner workings, and seeking to understand its relationship with the audience.

Benjamin lived truly at the crux of a major social change. For the first time in human history, the populace had considerable time for leisure. Industrialization had created much less manual work in the cities and towns to be done, and therefore people had time to spend with their families and friends during the day. This was reflected extensively in Impressionistic art. Paintings of people boating and picnicking were common, and the masses could actually go and view this art for the first time.

Benjamin used the term "aura" to refer to the feeling of awe created by unique or remarkable objects such as works of art or relics of the past. It is the reciprocity between the work itself and the audience. According to Benjamin older cultures can generate auras around particular objects of veneration, while the capitalist culture has the opposite effect. There objects of veneration have no aura because the can so frequently be mass produced. This is where Benjamin contradicts himself. He both praises and criticizes such development. On the one hand, it expands the exhibition of art to the masses, as a means of democratizing and equalizing society. But on the other hand, the mass production of art is lifeless, with no aura, and therefore no ability to move an audience anyway.

The authenticity, or relationship between the audience and the piece is totally different in mechanical versus non-mechanical art. Benjamin argues that the authenticity of say, a photograph, is lost to the audience, since it can be reproduced so effortlessly. A painting, on the other hand, can be replicated, which requires extensive work as well, thereby retaining some kind of aura to communicate with the audience.