Date of Award
Spring 4-13-2012
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Art and Design
First Advisor
Susan Richmond
Abstract
Although Walter Benjamin argues printed materials are without traditional art authority or aura, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg’s work exists in the tradition of high art despite their use of mass-produced materials. Johns and Rauschenberg rely on the distracted attention of the viewer in the age of reproduction to engender reassessment of materials in their works. They use objects that contribute to the new distracted audience but create works that force the viewer toward intense contemplation; their works also combat trends Benjamin identifies to stake their claim as artists of original works while remaining relevant to the modern era. Johns merges print, mechanized reproduction, painting, and sculpture to subvert and reaffirm his place as the artist of an auratic object. Rauschenberg employs ready-mades, painting, printed materials, and sculpture in hybrid art works that unite mechanization with human facture to renegotiate and expose the overstimulation of reproduced objects within society.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/2762209
Recommended Citation
Scoggins, Rebekah S., "A Renegotiation of the Role of the Artist in the 1950s Era of Mechanical Reproduction: The Early Careers of Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2012.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/2762209