The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

The essay “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” was written by Walter Benjamin and its first edition was published in German in 1935. Born in Berlin in 1892, Benjamin was a Marxist cultural critic and philosopher best known for his contributions to literary theory, translation theory, and historical analysis. This essay is part of series of works by Benjamin on the relationships between art, culture, and politics, which were collected and edited after his death by his colleague Hannah Arendt in the text Illuminations. Written in Paris after fleeing Nazi Germany, the essay explores themes like Technology and Artistic Production, Depictions of Reality in Art, and Art as a Political Form.

This study guide refers to the translation by Harry Zohn of the 1939 German revised edition, Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit, found in Illuminations, first published in New York by Schocken Books in 1969. The pagination here comes from the 2007 paperback edition published by Schocken Books.

Content Warning: The source material refers to Fascist violence. This study guide references suicide, the Shoah, and antisemitism.

Benjamin opens his essay by stating his purpose in the text: to set out a series of concepts about the theory of art that will be “useful for the formulation of revolutionary demands in the politics of art” (218).