| Arnold Hauser is not only a famous art historian in the20th century but also a founder of thesocial history of Art. He advocated the Marxist theory as the core of his social history of Art andhis methodology produced a significant influence on western Art history research. After20yearsdebate, Hauser completed the Macro-sociology of Art system with his four extremely solemn andrigorous books. The Macro-sociology of Art broke the domination of the form the style researchpattern of early20th century. The Macro-sociology of Art which is represented by Hauser has notonly played a key role in promoting the western Art history discipline in late20th century, but alsolaid a foundation for the "New Art History" in the1970s and the "Micro-sociology of Art" of1980s.Regrettably, due to many historical reasons, the research on Hauser himself and his theoryhistory are both unsearchable. This dissertation is trying to take the academic life of Hauser as astarting point to discuss its construction process and its theoretical significance for the Art Historydiscipline. So that I could finally summarizes the meaning of Hauser’s social history of Art theory.What we have to admit is that, after Hauser, the ultimate question of art history discipline has shiftfrom asking "What is Art?" to "What determines the art?","How Art or Art works wereproduced?" or "What the function and the role the Art play in human societies?"... |
