This is rather short chapter, just a couple of paragraphs but it is packed with a big idea. I think I am beginning to tune into the way that he writes, he uses long paragraphs that contain a premise and then a conclusion at the end. It strikes me as being very carefully written, that he would not use a word inappropriately, and once tuned in he can speak with amazing clarity.

So, he starts with discussing the cultic value and the display value and raises the point that in the past the higher the cultic status of an artwork then the more inaccessible the object. He uses the examples of statues placed out of reach in churches or statues of Gods that are only seen by the priests.

He then moves onto the point that with mass production the shift changes, that the object becomes more accessible and so the cultic value is diminished. This then led to a shift in the function of the artwork, from having a cultic function to having an artistic value and that the best medium to express this shift is photography. At the end of the chapter he states:

Because of the absolute weight placed on its display value, the work of art is becoming an image with entirely new functions, of which the one we are aware of, namely the artistic function, stands out as one that may subsequently be incidental.

As always, he does have a valid point, as photography has always seem to struggle to be accepted as one of the fine arts, such as painting, when there are clear similarities. One of the issues that has followed photography is the ability to infinitely copy a photograph, that the original has less value and this undermines the artistic value of the work.