The Sight Of Revolution

T.J.Clark is one of the most famous social art historians of mid-1970s. His twobooks, Image of the people: Gustave Courbet and the1848Revolution and TheAbsolute Bourgeois: Artists and Politics in France1848-1851were best examples ofthe social history of art. This paper focuses on the methods and approaches used byT.J.Clark, and his description of artists and societies during the mid nineteenthcentury in France. Meanwhile looking back to the situations of social history of artgrowed up is another purpose of the thesis, including its causes and the artibutions ofsome great art historians.Introducing the ideas of Clark through his own texts is the most effective way,and these two books show his methods of studies dircctly. In other hand, Clark’sobservation of art works comes from traditional art history conventions, and thatdeserve us to lcam and reference.