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In the world of ephemera, the type of unique and handmade works of art that can be the most interesting is the one created as a guide for commercial reproduction, whether by engraving or lithography. Like all engravers, wood engravers also executed their lettering and images upside down, so that the result of the print was correctly legible. Collectors of sent envelopes (“covers”) also appreciate examples with hand-drawn illustrations on the front. The example above shows original works drawn directly on the woodcut to guide the engraver. (Courtesy of the National Museum of American History.) Various forms of printed ephemera deteriorate rapidly, a key element in defining ephemera. Contemporary aesthetics produced a wide variety of trends, alongside the atomization of styles produced in 20th century art. Today`s aesthetics and art reflect cultural and philosophical ideas that emerged at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and are in many cases contradictory: the overcoming of the rationalist ideas of the Enlightenment and the transition to more subjective and individual concepts, starting with the romantic movement and crystallizing in the work of authors such as Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, represent a break with tradition and a rejection of classical beauty. The notion of reality has been challenged by new scientific theories: the subjectivity of time (Bergson), Einstein`s theory of relativity, quantum mechanics, Freud`s theory of psychoanalysis, etc. On the other hand, new technologies have changed the function of art, since photography and cinema were already responsible for capturing reality. All these factors have led to the emergence of new currents in contemporary art: abstract art, action and conceptual art, ephemeral art in which the artist no longer seeks to reflect reality, but to express his inner world, his feelings. [9] Ephemeral art cannot be bought, sold or traded, and sculpture blends into the environment as its materials gradually degrade. It represents the ephemeral nature of all things, but brings moments of joy when the weather turns into winter. Ephemera has been widely accepted as a source.

[56] Ephemera is credited with illustrating social dynamics, including daily life, communication, social mobility, and the application of social norms. [1] [56] In addition, different cultures of different groups can be judged on mayflies. [1] [18] [33] [56] [116] [g] For Rickards, Ephemera documents “the other side of the story. [which] contains all sorts of human qualities that would otherwise be eliminated. [112] Regarding the origins of the word itself, according to the Oxford Reference, Ephemera refers to “things that exist or are used or enjoyed only for a short time, collectibles that were generally written or printed and that were originally intended to be useful or popular only in the short term. Recorded in English from the late 16th century as the plural of ephemeron from the neuter Greek of ephēmeros “lasting only one day”. The word originally referred to a plant that was supposed to last only a day, or an insect with a short lifespan, and was therefore applied to a short-lived thing of interest. Today`s usage has been influenced by plurals such as anecdotes and memories. Before moving on to concrete examples of ephemeral arts, it is not superfluous to make a brief detour through the theory of two eminent thinkers of modern times, Charles Baudelaire and Walter Benjamin, which would help to clarify the materialist-conceptual clinch of the ephemeral and the eternal. For both theorists, the ephemeral is a consequence of modernity, where the acceleration of everyday conditions is the way works of art are produced and consumed. For Baudelaire, the ephemeral character of modernity is its heroic part, from which the eternal can be distilled.

It retains much of the theoretical contribution of earlier ages, in which the eternal is something that creatives should represent; It is an ideal hovering above the transient. Benjamin, on the other hand, declassicizes the concept of the eternal and positions it in a dialectical relationship to the transitory, where in modernity transience itself perpetuates. [3] In modern and contemporary productions, the ephemeral is defined both by the materiality of the work and by its conceptual foundations. Although they are temporally structured, however temporal they may be, ephemeral art also makes our transient experiences eternal conditions of contemporaneity. Charles Baudelaire and Walter Benjamin were both eminent thinkers of modern times, both examining materialist and conceptual theories surrounding the ephemeral and the eternal. For both theorists, the ephemeral is a consequence of modernity, where the acceleration of everyday conditions is the way works of art are produced and consumed. In his statement: “By `modernity` I mean the ephemeral, the fleeting, the contingent, half of art, the other half of which is the eternal and immutable.” [1] We can see that for him the eternal can be distilled. It retains much of the theoretical contribution of earlier ages, in which the eternal is something that creatives should represent; It is an ideal hovering above the transient. Benjamin, for his part, questions the concept of the eternal and positions it in a dialectical relationship with the transient; where the ephemeral is immortalized in modernity. [2] Baggage tags have been created for functional and practical purposes and should not be retained after travel.