The Snake and the Lightning

Name: The Snake and the Lightning
Brand: Thames and Hudson (Australia) Pty Ltd
SKU: 9783775751605
Price: 95.0 NZD
Availability: InStock

Aby Warburg's American Journey

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Summary

The Snake and the Lightning explores Aby Warburg's brief yet influential journey to the United States in 1895, where he examined the symbolic foundations of art among Pueblo communities. The book presents a rich tapestry of photographs, ethnological drawings, and documents capturing Warburg's encounters with chiefs, missionaries, and ritual performances. It traces the development of Warburg's groundbreaking ideas, culminating in his 1923 lecture on the "Snake Ritual" and his pioneering cultural comparative methodology.
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Format: Hardback

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The Snake and the Lightning

$95⁰⁰

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This book will appeal to readers interested in art history, ethnology, anthropology, and cultural studies, especially those fascinated by symbolic anthropology and cross-cultural artistic traditions.

Description

The Snake and the Lightning chronicles Aby Warburg's intriguing journey to the United States in September 1895, a trip that would unexpectedly become one of the most captivating events in the history of art research.

Warburg's expedition in America was brief, lasting only a few months, with a particularly short stay in the Pueblo communities. Yet, it was during this time that he gathered the insights for his seminal 1923 lecture on the "Snake Ritual".

This story and picture book compiles selected photographs, ethnological drawings, and numerous documents, providing a detailed narrative of his journey of discovery. Through these pages, readers traverse a vast continent of research, meeting Warburg's diverse interlocutors, from chiefs to missionaries, and witnessing his meticulous records of dances, ritual objects, and artworks rich with symbolic meanings.

The documents presented in The Snake and the Lightning serve as evidence of a pivotal transition in Warburg's scholarly thinking. This shift would eventually lead to the cross-border cultural comparative methodology for which he is celebrated globally.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9783775751605

Publisher: Hatje Cantz

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 30 November 2023

Country: Germany

Imprint: Hatje Cantz

Illustration: 120 Illustrations

Contributors:

Text by Uwe Fleckner

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 180.0mm

Height: 240.0mm

Weight: 480g

Pages: 176

Collections

Arts & Culture Non-Fiction

About the Author

ABY WARBURG (1866-1929) founded modern pictorial science with his work. His main theme was the study of the afterlife of antiquity in the Renaissance, which he recorded in his iconic pictorial atlas Mnemosyne. His American voyage is evidence of how early Warburg already directed his gaze beyond the Western cultural context to explore the interplay of myths, images, and rites.

UWE FLECKNER (*1961) is one of the acknowledged international experts on Warburg. Since 2004 he has been professor of art history at the University of Hamburg and a member of the board of directors of the Warburg House there. As co-editor of the collected works of Carl Einstein and Aby Warburg, he has produced numerous publications on the subject.