Artibus et Historiae no. 10 (V)

1984, ISSN 0391-9064

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DIETER WUTTKE - The Moving of the Warburg Library to Great Britain and the Beginnings of Art History as a University Discipline There

Aby M. Warburg (1866-1929), the famous art historian, critic and great promotor of cultural history collected a unique research library which became a semi-official part of the newly founded University of Hamburg called "Kulturwissenschaftliche Bibliothek Warburg" in 1920. At the end of 1933 the library and its staff left Germany in order to prevent the Nazis from destroying this Jewish foundation. Great Britain gave home to it and at the end of 1944 London University incorporated the library now named The Warburg Institute. The Warburg Institute has efficiently helped to promote art history as an academic discipline in Great Britain though its actual aims are of an interdisciplinary nature and go far beyond art history and this has been the case since the days of Warburg. Not only art history but also the American artist R. B. Kitaj living in Great Britain for many years has been deeply influenced by Warburg and Warburgian studies.