Analysis Of Jeff Koons’ The Masters Collection Through John Berger’s Theory
Reproduction:
I am mentioning Jeff Koons ‘The Masters Collection’ collaboration with Louis Vuitton (fig. 1), as this particular contemporary artwork relates to John Berger’s theory. Berger states ‘because of the camera, the painting now travels to the spectator rather than the spectator to the painting. In its travels, its meaning is diversified’. (Berger p. 20 1972). This suggests that by artworks being reproducible, galleries aren’t the sole place where art can be seen, as they are spotted in unspectacular places, resulting in the change of their meaning, as they aren’t displayed in their initial context and therefore lose their historical meaning. Jeff Koons had designed Louis Vuitton accessories (mostly bags) embellished with well-known historical artworks, for instance, Da Vinci, and Van Gogh etc. Koons notion of creating ‘The Masters Collection’ was for viewers to admire things which were created on earth before us.
The artist also aimed at anyone who is carrying the bag in public, are acknowledging humanity. I believe that Jeff Koons method achieved bringing significant historical art into the modern culture. But by these painting being displayed on bags, they are mostly categorised as fashion accessories and worn for style rather than art, which causes the paintings to lose their historical meaning. Paintings such as Mona Lisa have been excessively reproduced, diminishing their rarity and categorises itself as not being valuable, as the painting is presented as commonness. Hannah Ellis-Petersen (February 12, 2017) States the British Museums and Art Galleries dramatic downfall of visitors in 2016 ‘The number of visitors to the UK’s major museums and galleries fell by 1. 4 million last year, the first decline in almost a decade’. She quotes the Museums Association views on this topic ‘The Museums Association said ‘it was disappointing that the greatest decline in visitor numbers came from educational visits and school groups. There was a 6. 9 percent drop in children under 18 being taken on school trips and participating in workshops and educational activities in the galleries and museums’.
These statistics are proof for a mass younger generation being disinterested within art. From a young age, they’ve been uneducated and are lacking experience in art, which leads to problems of fewer people perusing careers in art, studying art, attending creative based activities etc. In this circumstance, reproduction can be a beneficial substance, as art being displayed in unspectacular places (referring to Jeff Koons embellished Louis Vuitton bag with famous historical paintings), can notify the younger generation without them needing to attend galleries and museums. Reproducible art may feel much democratic; as anyone is enabled to view it. Also, reproductions are methods of promoting art, which encourages people to attend galleries and museums. However, Berger states ‘Even a reproduction hung on a wall is not comparable in this respect for in the original the silence and stillness permeate the actual material, the paint, in which one follows the traces of the painter’s immediate gestures’. (Berger p. 31 1972). This implies that through reproducing a painting there are elements and aspects which get lost through the procedure.
Viewers will not experience the aura of observing a reproduced image compared to an original. ‘Appropriation in art and art history refers to the practice of artists using pre-existing objects or images in their art with little transformation of the original’. TATE -WHAT IS THE GREAT DEPRESSION- WRITE Walker Evans was an American photographer, most recognized for recording the Great Depression. Evans aimed for the images to display culture, truthful and being beyond the variety of human experience. Through 1935, he captured images in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, as he was employed by Resettlement Administration. He began photographing South America when the administration developed into the Farm Security Administration. The following year, still occupied at FSA, Fortune magazine requested the photographer and James Agee (Novelist) to stay in Southern Alabama and record the effect of the Great Depression has on three white families’ lives. Documentaries are featured in ‘Let Us Now Praise Famous Men’ book.
