Ah the good old 'I have undergrads who could do better' answer. But what about responding to the specific criticisms I have made?
In a way I am glad this topic has come up. I had never really consciously recognised before just how limited Benjamin's outlook is, especially from a historcial point of view. It's quite surprising in a way, given that he was writing the 1930s and so much was known by that time about the attitudes of early and other cultures towards the objects we now call art. Malraux was certainly keenly aware of it and had integrated it well and truly into his thinking by then. Benjamin is still wallowing around in a basically 19th century "linear" view of history - not surprising really, I guess, since he is obviously stiil so much in the shadow of Marx. DA On Fri, Jul 4, 2008 at 11:42 AM, Saul Ostrow <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > And this passes for a analysis and a polemeic - please I hav eunder grads > who can do better than this > Chair, Visual Arts and Technologies > The Cleveland Institute of Art > > > > >> From: Derek Allan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> Reply-To: <[email protected]> >> Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2008 09:10:55 +1000 >> To: <[email protected]> >> Subject: Re: Presence >> >> RE: 'Benjamin used the word "aura" to refer to the sense of awe and >> reverence one >> presumably experienced in the presence of unique works of art. According to >> Benjamin, this aura inheres not in the object itself but rather in external >> attributes such as its known line of ownership, its restricted exhibition, >> its publicized authenticity, or its cultural value. Aura is thus indicative >> of art's traditional association with primitive, feudal, or bourgeois >> structures of power and its further association with magic and (religious or >> secular) ritual.' >> >> (1) I like 'presumably' experienced... >> >> (2) In 'primitive', and 'feudal' times there were no 'works of art'. >> Slight glitch in Benjamin's historical analysis there. >> >> (3) Why should any of this have anything to do with 'structures of >> power' ? As I recall, there is nothing in Benjamin to demonstrate >> this. (But what the heck, it sounds classy. And there are nice Marxist >> resonances - without actually having to invoke Marx...) >> >> (4) Re:"such as its known line of ownership, its restricted >> exhibition, its publicized authenticity, or its cultural value. " >> >> This is so hopelessly shaky historically speaking. For vast stretches >> of history and for large numbers of objects we now regard as art, the >> question of 'line of ownership' was entirely irrelevant. Ditto the >> notion of 'exhibition.' The statues at Chartres were not on >> 'exhibition', or Buddhist sculpture or so much else. That is Western >> post-Renaissance thinking. Authenticity?? The very notion would not >> have made sense. Ditto a million times over for 'cultural value'. >> >> Benjamin's' outlook is so obviously limited by the conventional >> leftist thinking of his times... >> >> There is more to say but I'll leave it at that. >> >> DA >> >> On Thu, Jul 3, 2008 at 8:52 PM, Saul Ostrow <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> Benjamin used the word "aura" to refer to the sense of awe and reverence one >>> presumably experienced in the presence of unique works of art. According to >>> Benjamin, this aura inheres not in the object itself but rather in external >>> attributes such as its known line of ownership, its restricted exhibition, >>> its publicized authenticity, or its cultural value. Aura is thus indicative >>> of art's traditional association with primitive, feudal, or bourgeois >>> structures of power and its further association with magic and (religious or >>> secular) ritual. With the advent of art's mechanical reproducibility, and >>> the development of forms such as film in which there is no actual original, >>> the experience is freed from place and ritual. "For the first time in world >>> history," Benjamin wrote, "mechanical reproduction emancipates the work of >>> art from its parasitical dependence on ritual." >>> >>> >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> Derek Allan >> http://www.home.netspeed.com.au/derek.allan/default.htm >> >> >> -- >> This message has been scanned for viruses and >> dangerous content by MailScanner, and is >> believed to be clean. > > > -- Derek Allan http://www.home.netspeed.com.au/derek.allan/default.htm
