Ever Had a Bologna and Potato Chip Sandwich?

Hah. Title sounds a lot more interesting than the post is going to be. For his assignment in our class, Alex asked "Has mechanical reproduction changed the way we view arts authenticity as well as the value we place on the original?"

The value of actual art pieces has always been high. Reproducing only makes the actual piece more valued as it becomes more widely known and accepted. The only way our values may have gone down is that the common public now has a chance to view these pieces, thus making them less like "Godlike creations of the imaginative artist" and more a pretty picture you could put in a nice frame and place above your couch in the living room. I think these posters and reproductions are the ones placed at a lower value though, while the actual works of art are still placed high on their pedestals.