[lizziebith]

I'm so glad you split this discussion off and carried it forth!

I do agree that there is a little something like "sympathetic magic" in addition to the aesthetic component in an "original." I'm reading an interesting book on collection ("To Have and to Hold" by Philipp Blom) which begins with a quote by Walter Benjamin: "Every passion borders on chaos, that of the collector on the chaos of memory." The book isn't specific to art collection of course, but the author suggests that possession of objects of value carries an erotic power.

Note how both Chris and I have described the experience of being in the presence of original art in sensual terms!

More later...I must think.