DB Week 3: Can Art be Mechanically Reproduced?

When something is reproduced so many times, is that art? What’s the importance of mechanical reproducibility of the art? What was the impact on mechanical reproducibility on the society?

Yes, I believe that a piece of art is still art even if it’s been reproduced many times. Art is different in the eyes of everyone, so if one person take, say, the Mona Lisa, and reproduces it in a different, more modern style, it’s still art. It’s no longer the Mona Lisa, but in their eyes they’ve created something beautiful. The importance of mechanical reproducibility of photography is that it helps artists to create what they’ve envisioned in their mind. They can take an original photo and manipulate it with computer editing programs in any way to make it what they wanted it to be. As for our society, it has both positive and negative impact. Mechanically reproduced art means that it is more available to everyone. Before cameras, if you wanted to see classic pieces of amazing art, you would have to pay high museum entrance fees or travel to places like Paris, whereas now you can view them all online. However, mechanical reproduction also means it’s easier for those classic pieces to be copied and replaced, so if you do travel all the way to Paris, you might not actually be seeing the original copy at all!

Is photography art or contribution to the art? Is it just a tool used by artists?

Of course photography is a tool used by artists, just like paintings and sculptures are. However, I also believe photography can be both art and a contribution to art. To me, photography is art when it is a complete original copy of a photo, with little or no editing or manipulation, whether it’s been taken in a quick moment or completely staged. I think it becomes a contribution to art when it’s been reproduced so many times and it’s been edited and manipulated beyond recognition. Like I said before, to me that is still considered art. Although it might not be in the eyes of the artist (unless they’re the ones who ended up editing it) who took the original photo, it obviously is in the eyes of the artist who manipulated it.

How did Henry Peach Robinson create ‘Fading Away’? What was the reason?

Henry Peach Robinson created ‘Fading Away’ by taking five separate negatives and combining them into one photograph. The photograph depicts the death of a young girl who is surrounded by here grieving family. It was done in 1858, and at that time photography was used for less controversial things, like portraits. It was a controversial picture as many people believed a scene like that shouldn’t be portrayed with such a literal form of art, but since it was an acceptable scene to be done with other mediums, such as paint, Henry wanted to show it could be done just as well with a camera.

Photography has impacted the world of art and influenced some changes in the area of accessibility to art. If mechanical reproduction created revolution, what is happening now with the digitalization?

Photos can now be reproduced and manipulated with almost no effort at all, and shared with millions at the click of a button. This is all as a result of digitalization, and so I believe that will also create a revolution.