 In principle, a work of art has always been reproducible. Man-made artifacts could always be imitated by men. Replicas are made by pupils in practice of their craft, by masters for diffusing their works, and finally by third parties in the pursuit of gain. Mechanical reproduction of a work of art, however, represents something new. Historically it advanced intermittently and at leaps at long intervals, but with accelerating intensity. During long periods of history, the mode of human sense perception changes with humanity's entire mode of existence. The adjustment of reality to the masses and of the masses to reality is a process of unlimited scope. Even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element, its presence in time and space, its unique existence and the possibility of a new world. This unique existence of the work of art determined the history to which it was subject throughout the time of its existence. An analysis of art in the age of mechanical reproduction must do justice to these relationships, for they lead us to an all-important insight. For the first time in world history, mechanical reproduction emancipates the work of art from its parasitical dependence on ritual. To an ever-greater degree, the work of art is the result of the work of the artist. The artist is the one who creates and produces the work of art. To an ever-greater degree, the work of art reproduced becomes the work of art designed for reproducibility. From a photographic negative, for example, one can make any number of prints. To ask for the authentic print makes no sense. When the instant the criterion of authenticity ceases to be applicable to the artistic production, the total function of art is reversed. And, in permitting the reproduction to be the beholder or the listener in its own particular situation, it reactivates the object produced. These two processes lead to a tremendous shattering of tradition, which is the obverse of the new era that all works Springtime, art, art can be dunked into passages that lend value