自马克思主义诞生以来,马克思的历史理论已经成为艺术史批评的一种重要理论,因而当我们反思艺术批评史时,也就不可回避地需要重新审视马克思主义,特别是它涉及意识形态的本质、国家的职能、艺术创作特征、阶级的定义和社会经济基础对社会其他领域的决定程度等一系列重要的基础性原理。这并不是对马克思的理论简单地再次评说一番,而是需要我们必须更加严谨地研究和解释。这既要识别清楚一些不属于马克思的而被错误地冠以马克思的名号的理论,又要看到在马克思理论的核心部分存在一个很有价值、很令人困惑的不确定性,它一方面把社会的结构性矛盾当作历史变革的动力,另一方面又把引发阶级斗争的人的因素作为革命性变化的决定性力量。这种悖论性的理解,在马克思的历史发展观的核心地位中发挥着至关重要的作用。其结果是让马克思主义成为现代思想体系中主流传统之一,其丰富性无与伦比,其争议性独一无二。此外还应看到,马克思理论是开放性的,不断接受时代的挑战的,“马克思从未说过最后一个词,相反,他的确说了第一个词,我们完全可以继续他开启了的话题”。 Since the birth of Marxism, Marx’s historical theory has become an important theory of art history criticism. Therefore, when we reflect on the history of art criticism, we must inevitably need to reexamine Marxism. In particular, it involves the essence of ideology, A series of important basic principles such as the functions of the state, the characteristics of artistic creation, the definition of class and the degree of decision of socio-economic foundation in other areas of society. This is not a simple rehearsal of Marx’s theory, but it requires us to study and explain it more rigorously. This not only identifies some theories that are not Marx’s but is mistakenly labeled as Marx’s, but also shows that there is a very valuable and perplexing uncertainty in the core of Marxist theory. Regard the social structural contradictions as the driving force of historical changes, and on the other hand, regard the human factors that lead to the class struggle as the decisive force for revolutionary changes. This paradoxical understanding plays a crucial role in the centrality of Marx’s view of historical development. As a result, Marxism has become one of the mainstream traditions in the modern ideological system. Its richness is unparalleled and its controversy is unique. In addition, we should also see that Marxist theory is open-ended and constantly meets the challenges of the times. “Marx never said the last word. On the contrary, he did say the first word and we can continue with what he has started topic”.