Imaging the French Revolution Discussion
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5. How would our analyses change if we knew more about the date, engravers, designers, producers, merchants and distribution of the images in question? What do the images reveal about class or gender? What can the style and rendering of an image disclose about the political ideology or psychological predisposition of the engraver, printer, or patron? How might one get at the intent of the image makers compared to the reading produced by contemporary viewers.
 
The Importance of Supporting Information Wayne Hanley, 6-6-03, 9:50 AM
the need for more knowledge Lynn Hunt,
6-23-03, 11:16 PM
on the need for more knowledge Barbara Day-Hickman, 7-3-03, 4:12 PM
A different perspective Warren Roberts, 7-9-03,
1:33 PM
reading the image Vivian Cameron, 7-26-03,
1:45 PM

Subject: reading the image
Posted By: Vivian Cameron
Date Posted: 7-26-03, 1:45 PM

Knowing more about the date, the artist, the distribution of a print, and the like, as Claudette Hould has demonstrated, helps us to stabilize the meaning of a work, as it were. However, as we all know, images are multivalent with various readings, and “the reception of any cultural product is subject always to friction, resistance, and possible remaking,” as Joan Landes has shown.1 I was happy to read Joan’s comments about intent (see Question 1) because regardless of the artist’s intent, the image acquires its own meanings, depending on the sites of its display, who interprets it [here class, race, and gender can be pertinent], when it is interpreted (reception theory), and the like.

1 Joan Landes, Visualizing the Nation (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2001), p. 37.
 
 
 
 
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