Emily J. Levine
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226061689
- eISBN:
- 9780226061719
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226061719.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas
The first chapter argues that the relationship between the brothers Aby and Max Warburg and the Warburg banking family provide a civic exemplar of Hamburg’s unique urban landscape, the so-called ...
More
The first chapter argues that the relationship between the brothers Aby and Max Warburg and the Warburg banking family provide a civic exemplar of Hamburg’s unique urban landscape, the so-called “Hamburg model,” in which merchant families supported the city’s cultural life through their private wealth. That Hamburg possessed no tradition of state-sponsored art or culture was the source of both advantages and disadvantages of intellectual life. Warburg often complained about the city’s philistine cultural taste and experienced friction with its tastemakers like Alfred Lichtwark. Yet despite their Jewishness, the Warburg family wielded a tremendous amount of control on this urban scene. This chapter shows how this distinctive urban landscape shaped Warburg’s own intellectual upbringing and set the stage for his unique collection of books that would develop into the Kulturwissenschaftliche Bibliothek Warburg (Warburg library).Less
The first chapter argues that the relationship between the brothers Aby and Max Warburg and the Warburg banking family provide a civic exemplar of Hamburg’s unique urban landscape, the so-called “Hamburg model,” in which merchant families supported the city’s cultural life through their private wealth. That Hamburg possessed no tradition of state-sponsored art or culture was the source of both advantages and disadvantages of intellectual life. Warburg often complained about the city’s philistine cultural taste and experienced friction with its tastemakers like Alfred Lichtwark. Yet despite their Jewishness, the Warburg family wielded a tremendous amount of control on this urban scene. This chapter shows how this distinctive urban landscape shaped Warburg’s own intellectual upbringing and set the stage for his unique collection of books that would develop into the Kulturwissenschaftliche Bibliothek Warburg (Warburg library).
Emily J. Levine
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226061689
- eISBN:
- 9780226061719
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226061719.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas
The third chapter examines the longstanding debate over the purpose of scholarship in a commercial city without a scholarly tradition. Warburg, for his part, often mediated between the camps of ...
More
The third chapter examines the longstanding debate over the purpose of scholarship in a commercial city without a scholarly tradition. Warburg, for his part, often mediated between the camps of merchants and academics and stirred local pride with constant references to Berlin. This chapter shows how Aby and Max Warburg played an instrumental role in leading the city towards the ultimate founding of the University of Hamburg. Tabled because of the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the university was ultimately founded in the spring of 1919 in the midst of revolution. Born of the republic, the university would draw on Hamburg’s distinct internationalism, a potential asset in the new Europe. Broken by the war and unsatisfied with the university’s traditionalism, Warburg, however, would ultimately turn his intellectual sights to his library and retreat to Kreuzlingen, Switzerland, where he would recover from a mental breakdown.Less
The third chapter examines the longstanding debate over the purpose of scholarship in a commercial city without a scholarly tradition. Warburg, for his part, often mediated between the camps of merchants and academics and stirred local pride with constant references to Berlin. This chapter shows how Aby and Max Warburg played an instrumental role in leading the city towards the ultimate founding of the University of Hamburg. Tabled because of the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the university was ultimately founded in the spring of 1919 in the midst of revolution. Born of the republic, the university would draw on Hamburg’s distinct internationalism, a potential asset in the new Europe. Broken by the war and unsatisfied with the university’s traditionalism, Warburg, however, would ultimately turn his intellectual sights to his library and retreat to Kreuzlingen, Switzerland, where he would recover from a mental breakdown.
