> Ivy, did you see my original posting asking for people's opinions
> regarding how mass-producing images of artworks may or may not affect the
> artistic integrity of the original?  That's what this reply was to--the
> point is, yes it has been going on for 100s of years--what I want to know
> is, how do people FEEL about it?
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I was just talking to a friend of mine about this exact subject.
He visited the Louve not long ago and was shocked and suprised
to find the Mona Lisa was not at all what he had expected.

He commented on the fact that so many people were crowded around
this tiny, unfinished artwork snapping photos and that hardly anyone was
appreciating the other, less bullet-proof pieces.

I can say from my experience that seeing a Pollack in real-life
and seeing Pollack in slide form are two very different experiences.
I love to view artwork in person and if I had the opprotunity this would
be my preference in viewing art. I think that atmosphere and the
artists intensions are more accurate in a Museum space as opposed to a
postcard. I think that atmosphere is just as crucial as the artwork itself.

But since we are not living in the dream world where all of this would
happen, I do like to utilize reproductions. I think that the integrity
that it effects is context. Many of the important ideas can be
lost in the transferrence. Imagine seeing Bill Violas exhibit on a 13'
television screen.

I feel that the mass publishing of images makes art more
accessible to the general populus. The images can become familiar to
people that wouldn't necessarily see them and I think that that is a good
thing. I think it generates more interest in the arts. This occurs with
my own education and life experiences.

I think that mass publishing is partially responsible for my
interest and exposure to a lot of work that I would not get to see
ordinarily and I think that it has sparked my interest in other
art forms.

Mass publishing of an image does not affect the integrity
of the image, just the integrity of the viewer.

R.B. Wilkins

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