Multiples of One:
A Partial History of Experiencing Art
through Reproduction
by Kimberly Dawn Pendell, M.S.Info.St.
The University of Texas at Austin, 2005
SUPERVISOR: Philip Doty
2nd Reader: Chela Metzger
Thesis Abstract
Art is one of the greatest cultural signifiers we have of ourselves and our understanding of the world. However, those works we value as emblematic of high artistic creation and cultural import are also most often confined in time and space by their stubborn uniqueness--an attribute that assists in both establishing the value of works of art and effectively limits their available audience. Consequently, there has long been a desire to share works of art across audiences through the creation and use of reproduced images.
Arguably, our most frequent exposure to art is by means of art reproduction, not direct encounters with original works. And though we are likely to perceive reproduced images of works of art as simple representational objects, the complexity of their creation and use reveals these images to be pedagogical, commercial, political and social objects as well. The key to the multitude of uses of reproduced images is the reproductive medium; the medium not only influences how we "see" the work of art, it also engages us in varying dialogues of context and use.
This thesis is an historical and contemporary critical analysis of reproduced images of works of art. In chapter one, I first address ideas around authentic objects and authentic experience, authority, and the conceptually sticky relationship between the original and the reproduction. This discussion echoes throughout the following three chapters as I trace the history of art reproduction in its increasing availability and representational and technological sophistication. My partial history of art reproduction is divided into three primary media: engraving, photographic reproduction, and digital imaging technology. For each medium I focus on the visual and experiential qualities, including context and manipulability, of reproduced images in the medium and the concomitant interpretive possibilities. The thesis concludes by discussing digital imaging technology, particularly as it pertains to the World Wide Web as a medium that both expands upon previous visual and experiential conventions and also engages us in the possibility of establishing personal curatorial realms of authority.