View images / View questions

1. Are images vital sources of historical knowledge that have been insufficiently exploited?

Wayne and Barbara raise a crucial question which we could collectively discuss more deeply; how do you discern the "message" of a visual image, especially if there is no explicit evidence in textual sources? This is one of the key reasons why most historians avoid visual evidence. Even art historians, after all, use textual evidence as keys to unlocking the meaning of visual expressions. Our problem here is the anonymity of much revolutionary print-making.

Go back to the question