Rethinking the Warburgian tradition in the 21st century

Abstract

The present article is divided in two parts. The first one deals with the contribution of José E. Burucúa’s book: Historia, Arte, Cultura. De Aby Warburg a Carlo Ginzburg to the field of Warburgian studies. The following aspects receive particular attention throughout this article: (i) the growing importance of Warburg’s thought in relation to the crisis of the major 20th century historical narratives and the linguistic turn; (ii) the relevance of certain concepts (such as das Nachleben der Antike, the Denkraum and Pathosformeln) to the present field of cultural studies, and (iii) Burucúa’s position regarding the current theoretical disputes taking place among those intellectuals influenced by Warburg’s ideas. The second part reproduces an interview with the Argentinean art historian, in which he discusses in detail certain cultural phenomena, through a Warburgian perspective.