宣傳與藝術史並不是像人們所以為的那樣壁壘分明。如眾所知，阿比．沃伯格（Aby Warburg）還有許多其他藝術史家，例如埃米爾．馬勒（Émile Mâle）、貢布里希（Ernst Gombricht）或肯尼思．克拉克（Kenneth Clark）等學者，在國家需要的時候，都曾不遺餘力貢獻所學，為家國作宣傳。從較基本的理論層次而言，分析宣傳的問題，弔詭地使我們不得不探究藝術史的一些關鍵預設。而聚焦紀錄片在大英帝國與印度的最初發展即可見其端倪。

Propaganda and art history do not lie as far apart as we might think. As we know, Aby Warburg and many other art historians (such as Émile Mâle, Ernst Gombricht or Kenneth Clark) have not hesitated to put their knowledge in the service of propaganda for their homelands when circumstances required doing so. At a more fundamental level, the problems of analyzing propaganda paradoxically force us to investigate some of art history’s key postulates. This is shown by focusing on the very beginnings of documentary films in the British Empire and India.