The Warburg Institute is a research institution associated with the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

in central

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. 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. 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 Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...

on all aspects of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

civilisation A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of a state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond natural spoken language (namely, a writing system). Civ ...

. 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

Hamburg

The institute was formed in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

, Germany, from the library of

Aby Warburg Aby Moritz Warburg, better known as Aby Warburg, (June 13, 1866 – October 26, 1929) was a German art historian and cultural theorist who founded the Kulturwissenschaftliche Bibliothek Warburg (Library for Cultural Studies), a private library, ...

(1866–1929), a student of

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

art and culture, and a scion of the wealthy Jewish

Warburg family The Warburg family is a prominent German and American banking family of German Jewish and originally Venetian Jewish descent, noted for their varied accomplishments in biochemistry, botany, political activism, economics, investment banking, law, ...

. As an

art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today, ...

, Warburg had become dissatisfied with an aestheticising approach to art history and was interested in a more philosophical and

interdisciplinary Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, ec ...

approach. While studying the culture of Renaissance

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

, he grew interested in the influence of antiquity on modern culture, and the study of this second life of the

Classical World Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations ...

became his life work. In 1900, he decided to establish the Warburg-Bibliothek für Kulturwissenschaft (Warburg Library of the Science of Culture), but, although he had begun collecting books in 1886, he didn't actually establish his library until 1909.Deborah J. Haynes (1996)
"Warburg, Aby"
vol. 32, pp. 854–855, in ''

The Dictionary of Art ''Grove Art Online'' is the online edition of ''The Dictionary of Art'', often referred to as the ''Grove Dictionary of Art'', and part of Oxford Art Online, an internet gateway to online art reference publications of Oxford University Press ...

'' (34 vols.), edited by Jane Turner. New York: Grove. . Also at

Oxford Art Online Oxford Art Online is an Oxford University Press online gateway into art research, which was launched in 2008. It provides access to several online art reference works, including Grove Art Online (originally published in 1996 in a print version, ''T ...

, subscription required. Warburg was joined in 1913 by the

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

art historian

Fritz Saxl Friedrich "Fritz" Saxl (8 January 1890, Vienna, Austria – 22 March 1948, Dulwich, London) was the art historian who was the guiding light of the Warburg Institute, especially during the long mental breakdown of its founder, Aby Warburg, whom ...

(1890–1948)."History"
at The Warburg Institute website. Retrieved 3 March 2015. They discussed the possibility of converting the library into a research institute in 1914, but

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

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. 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". The institute was later affiliated to the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vo ...

. Neo-Kantian philosopher and professor at the newly founded University

Ernst Cassirer Ernst Alfred Cassirer ( , ; July 28, 1874 – April 13, 1945) was a German philosopher. Trained within the Neo-Kantian Marburg School, he initially followed his mentor Hermann Cohen in attempting to supply an idealistic philosophy of science. A ...

used it, and his students

Erwin Panofsky Erwin Panofsky (March 30, 1892 in Hannover – March 14, 1968 in Princeton, New Jersey) was a German-Jewish art historian, whose academic career was pursued mostly in the U.S. after the rise of the Nazi regime. Panofsky's work represents a high ...

and Edgar Wind worked there. The original Warburg Library building in Hamburg is now a research institute, Warburg-Haus Hamburg.

London

In 1933, under the shadow of

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) i ...

, the institute was relocated to London, where, with the aid of Lord Lee of Fareham, Samuel Courtauld, and the Warburg family, it was installed in Thames House in 1934. The institute moved to the Imperial Institute Buildings in 1937. In 1944 it became associated with the University of London. Henri Frankfort succeeded Saxl as director in 1949, and in 1955 was succeeded by Gertrud Bing, who had joined the organization in 1922. During her term as director, the institute moved to its current home at the university in 1958. Bing was succeeded by

Ernst Gombrich Sir Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich (; ; 30 March 1909 – 3 November 2001) was an Austrian-born art historian who, after settling in England in 1936, became a naturalised British citizen in 1947 and spent most of his working life in the United Ki ...

in 1959. From 1976 to 1990, J. B. Trapp was director, and from 1991 to 2001, Nicholas Mann. In 1994 the Warburg became a founding institute of the University of London's School of Advanced Study. Recent directors have been Charles Hope (2001 to 2010), Peter Mack (2010 to 2014) and David Freedberg (from July 2015 to April 2017). In 2011, legal action was started by the University of London together with the institute's advisory council about their disagreement regarding the meaning of the 1944 deed of trust that granted the university the collection; the pledge "to maintain and preserve the collection 'in perpetuity' as 'an independent unit'" is problematised by the institute's annual deficit, estimated at half a million pounds. Several students and scholars who had used the Warburg resources or studied there protested against this planned merge. A petition on Change.org to save the Warburg's independence was started by Brooke Palmieri, a student of

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

after working on her PhD thesis at the Warburg. In only two months, the petition had almost twenty five thousand signatures. In recent years the university has charged a proportion of its total estate expenditure to the Warburg Institute; as a result, the finances of the once solvent Institute have been strongly affected. In November 2014, a High Court judgment established that the university's conduct in this regard was not lawful.

Building

The institute occupies a large building on

Woburn Square Woburn Square is the smallest of the Bloomsbury squares and owned by the University of London. Designed by Thomas Cubitt and built between 1829 and 1847, it is named after Woburn Abbey, the main country seat of the Dukes of Bedford, who develop ...

, in the University of London's

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest ...

campus in the central

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and S ...

. Designed by

Charles Holden Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

and built in 1957, the building is adjacent to the University of London Student Union,

Birkbeck College , mottoeng = Advice comes over nightTranslation used by Birkbeck. , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £4.3 m (2014) , budget = £10 ...

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ...

, and Christ the King Church. It is also the home of the studio of the

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised a ...

University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

. The Warburg Institute maintains a research library of more than 350,000 volumes. These volumes, except for a relatively small proportion of rare and valuable books, are kept on open shelves and are accessible to all. The library is notable for its unusual and unique reference system: the books are arranged by subject according to Warburg's division of human history into the categories of Action, Orientation, Word, and Image. The institute also holds a large photographic collection of 450,000 photographs of paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings, arranged according to an iconographic system initiated by Rudolf Wittkower and Edgar Wind. The photographic collection also holds the valuable archive of the Image of the Black in Western Art. The institute's archive contains the personal and working papers of Aby Warburg, together with the archives of Henri Frankfort, Ernst Gombrich and other Warburgian scholars. In 2022 work began on a major renovation and redevelopment of the existing buildings, titled "Warburg Renaissance". The project includes the creation of a new structure in the former courtyard, incorporating a lecture theatre and storage and study spaces for archives and special collections. Work is scheduled for completion in December 2023.

Organisation

In addition to its primary purpose as an academic reference library, the institute accepts a small number of graduate students each year. The institute awards the degrees of

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in Cultural and Intellectual History (1300–1650) and

in Art History, Curatorship and Renaissance culture,

Master of Philosophy The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil ...

and

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

; the first and the second are one-year degrees with taught and research components, the MPhil is a two-year research degree which would usually be expected to lead onto a PhD with further study, and the last is a three-year research degree. The emphasis of these programs is on developing interpretative skills in a number of different academic subjects, which follows from the institute's interdisciplinary mission. Considerable attention is devoted to improving language skills and knowledge of primary sources.

Students and faculty

Scholars associated with the Warburg Institute include

Rudolf Wittkower Rudolf Wittkower (22 June 1901 – 11 October 1971) was a British art historian specializing in Italian Renaissance and Baroque art and architecture, who spent much of his career in London, but was educated in Germany, and later moved to the Unite ...

Otto Kurz Otto Kurz FBA (26 May 1908 in Vienna, Austria – 3 September 1975 in London) was a historian and Slade Professor of Fine Art, University of Oxford. Education * University of Vienna Career Fleeing to London from the Nazis, he was Librarian at ...

, Henri Frankfort,

Arnaldo Momigliano Arnaldo Dante Momigliano (5 September 1908 – 1 September 1987) was an Italian historian of classical antiquity, known for his work in historiography, and characterised by Donald Kagan as "the world's leading student of the writing of history ...

, Edgar Wind, Frances Yates,

Enriqueta Harris Enriqueta Harris Frankfort (17 May 1910 — 22 April 2006) was a British art historian and writer who specialised in Spanish art. Born into a family with an English father and a Spanish mother, she attended the University College London to read ...

, D. P. Walker,

Michael Baxandall Michael David Kighley Baxandall, FBA (18 August 1933 – 12 August 2008) was a British art historian and a professor emeritus of Art History at the University of California, Berkeley. He taught at the Warburg Institute, University of London, and ...

, Jennifer Montagu, Anthony Grafton, and Elizabeth McGrath. The current group of scholars continues the institute's tradition of interdisciplinary research into history, philosophy, religion, and art. The permanent staff includes a number of academics and graduate students who hold short and long-term fellowships.

''Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes''

Together with the

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...

, the Warburg Institute publishes ''The Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes'', an annual publication of about 300 pages (ISSN: 0075-4390).

Directors of the institute

*1929–1948:

*1949–1954: Henri Frankfort *1954–1959: Gertrud Bing *1959–1976:

*1976–1990: J. B. Trapp *1990–2001: Nicholas Mann *2001–2010: Charles Hope *2010–2014: Peter Mack *2014–2015: Raphaële Mouren (acting) *2015–2017: David Freedberg *2017: Michelle O'Malley (acting) *2017– : William H Sherman

References

External links

Warburg Institute websiteThe Warburg Institute Iconographic Database"The World's Weirdest Library"
at ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' {{Authority control Warburg family School of Advanced Study Arts organisations based in the United Kingdom 1926 establishments in England Photo archives in the United Kingdom