CodeDS/UK/2245
Dates13/06/1866-26/10/1929
Person NameWarburg; Aby Moritz (13/06/1866-26/10/1929); Professor, Dr.
SurnameWarburg
ForenamesAby Moritz
TitleProfessor, Dr.
ActivityGerman Jewish art historian and founder of the Kulturwissenschaftliche Bibliothek Warburg,
RelationshipsSon of Moritz and Charlotte (née Oppenheim) Warburg; elder brother of Max, Paul, Felix, Olga, Fritz and Louise Warburg; husband of Mary Warburg (née Hertz) married 08/10/1897; father of Marietta Braden (née Warburg), Max Adolph Warburg and Frede Prag (née Warburg).
HistoryResigned his birthright as head of the family banking business (M. M. Warburg & Co.) to study art history and related subjects; studied at the University in Bonn (1886-8) under the art historian Carl Just, the classicist Hermann Usener, and the historian Karl Lamprecht; studied in Florence (1888-89) under the art historian August Schmarsow; while in Florence he was one of nine students at a seminar to make the case for the creation of a German Institute for Art History in Florence; studied at the University of Strasbourg (1889-91) where he completed his dissertation 'Sandro Botticellis 'Geburt der Venus' und 'Frühling': Eine Untersuchung über die Vorstellung von der Antike in der italienischen Frührenaissance' under Hubert Janitschek (submitted in 1891 and published in 1893); studied physical psychology briefly in Berlin; travelled to Arizona and New Mexico to study indigenous Indian culture (1895-96); moved to Florence to study Italian Renaissance art (1897); returned to Hamburg in 1904; in 1900 it was agreed that he would receive funds from his brothers to establish a library for his very own enterprise; Aby and his family moved to Heilwigstraße 114 in 1909; lifelong mental health problems which was aggravated during World War I; the condition later led to a psychosis and subsequent hospitalization (1921-24); travelled to Italy accompanied by Gertrud Bing (1928-9). He was the founder of the Kulturwissenschaftliche Bibliothek Warburg (from 1934 the Warburg Institute); he preferred to remain out of the limelight but was a member of committees such as the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz: Warburg served on the board of the Institute from its foundation in 1897 until 1915 when he resigned and was involved in its reopening in 1922 and remained engaged with its development until his death in 1929; he was also part of the comittee of the International Congress of the History of Art, serving as the treasurer (1906-1912); Warburg acted as art advisor to the Hamburg America Linie (1912-13); member of the Hamburger Wissenschaftliche Stiftung from 1916; involved in discussions about the established of a University of Hamburg and appointed a member of the Preparatory Committee for Hamburg University (1918); Warburg worked as a private scholar and refused three professorships but accepted the honorific professorial title from the Hamburg Senate in 1912; the idea of founding his own institute began in 1900, when Aby mentioned to his brother the idea of a “Warburg-Bibliothek für Kulturwissenschaft” (Warburg Library for Cultural Science) and already in 1905 the Institute had statutes and consisted of c. 6,000 books; he moved his book collection to Heilwigstraße 114 in 1909 which beame a family home and research library; the library grew and received a status of semi-public research institute by 1921; in 1926, following construction of a new building on the neighbouring plot to 114, 116 Heilwigstraße, the KBW opened its new building with an elliptical reading room and systematically arranged library; Warburg gave seminars on art history at Hamburg University (1925-8); his slow recovery from his illness was followed by a final productive period (1924-29) in which he embarked on his major work, the Bilderatlas titled Mnemosyne.
Sourcehttps://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199920105/obo-9780199920105-0087.xml; https://arthistorians.info/warburga/; Warburg Insitute Archive III and IV.

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