Warburg Institute
The Warburg Institute is a research institution associated with the University of London in central London, England. A member of the School of Advanced Study, its focus is the study of cultural history and the role of images in culture – cross-disciplinary and global. It is concerned with the histories of art and science, and their relationship with superstition, magic, and popular beliefs.
Established
- 1900, as the Warburg Library
- 1926, as the Warburg Institute
- 1944, affiliated to the University of London
School of Advanced Study, University of London
The researches of the Warburg Institute are historical, philological and anthropological. It is dedicated to the study of the survival and transmission of cultural forms – whether in literature, art, music or science – across borders and from the earliest times to the present including especially the study of the influence of classical antiquity on all aspects of European civilisation.
Based originally in Hamburg, Germany, in 1933 the collection was moved to London, where it became incorporated into the University of London in 1944.
History[edit]
Hamburg[edit]
The institute was formed in Hamburg, Germany, from the library of Aby Warburg (1866–1929), a student of Renaissance art and culture, and a scion of the wealthy Jewish Warburg family.
As an art historian, Warburg had become dissatisfied with an aestheticising approach to art history and was interested in a more philosophical and interdisciplinary approach. While studying the culture of Renaissance Florence, he grew interested in the influence of antiquity on modern culture, and the study of this second life of the Classical World became his life work.
In 1900, he decided to establish the Warburg-Bibliothek für Kulturwissenschaft (Warburg Library of the Science of Culture),[1] but, although he had begun collecting books in 1886, he didn't actually establish his library until 1909.[2]
Warburg was joined in 1913 by the Vienna art historian Fritz Saxl (1890–1948).[3] They discussed the possibility of converting the library into a research institute in 1914, but World War I and illness interfered. After Warburg returned to Hamburg in 1924, he and Saxl initiated the process of conversion, and the Warburg-Bibliothek officially opened its doors as a research institute in 1926.[2]
Eventually, the privately funded library, built around the interdisciplinary approach, became extensive. Warburg "famously forfeited his right to a share of his fortune on condition that his younger brother Max would buy him any books he required".[4][5]
The institute was later affiliated to the University of Hamburg. Neo-Kantian philosopher and professor at the newly founded University Ernst Cassirer used it, and his students Erwin Panofsky and Edgar Wind worked there.
The original Warburg Library building in Hamburg is now a research institute, Warburg-Haus Hamburg.[6]
Language
English
1937–present
J. Warburg Courtauld Inst.