The authors of this text, Orton and Pollock, are considered exponents of the social history of art. Their approach to the study of art began in 1978 with the publication of their analysis of popular artists such as Van Gogh which denied the simplistic interpretations of the popular art world of such "Masters" of art. Over the past 20 years they have continued to re-appraise and re-invent art historical analyses, focusing on the formation of European...