The Exploration Of Sociological Standpoints In Gombrich's Art History Narrative

As one of the most influential art historians in the 20~thh century,Ernst Hans Gombrich develops a unique style with his open research system and wide research perspective among his peers.He integrates German academic traditions and contemporary academic progress into his study.Involving subjects such as psychology,linguistics and sociology,his study breaks the boundaries between disciplines and broadens the study of art history.By successfully implementing the necessity and feasibility of the integration of western art theoretical subjects,Gombrich builds a multi-dimensional theoretical structure of art history that is comprehensive,advancing and interdisciplinary.This thesis takes Gombrich as the research subject,and starts its study with Gombrich's sociological standpoints.It studies how Gombrich investigates art history from the perspective of sociology and analyses the angles,concepts and others he applies in his study with sociological methods.According to the author,there are three main sociological standpoints in Gombrich's art history study,namely sponsorship,taste and“situational logic”.This thesis focuses on“situational logic”.The first chapter introduces Gombrich and his art history writing.It summarizes the formation of Gombrich's academic thinking though his life and education experiences,and reviews his writing of art history.Taking The Story of Art,Gombrich's classic as the starting point,the second chapter interprets Gombrich's art history and analyses the features of his art history narrative.Four aspects of The Story of Art including topic analysis,way of writing,prose style and structure are studied to see how he narrates the history.The third chapter explores the sociological standpoints in Gombrich's narrative through his application of“situational logic”.Mainly based on the history of art and sociology,this thesis applies relevant methods of subjects including art,history and sociology in its specific writing.