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Warburg, Kandinsky, and Shestov on Renewal of Art and Humanity

Artistic, Philosophical, and Psychoanalytic Perspectives

Warburg, Kandinsky, and Shestov on Renewal of Art and Humanity cover

Warburg, Kandinsky, and Shestov on Renewal of Art and Humanity

Artistic, Philosophical, and Psychoanalytic Perspectives

Description

This book explores the meanings of the concept of renewal in the work of the three twentieth-century innovators of European culture.
The thoughts of Aby Warburg, Wassily Kandinsky and Lev Shestov redefined the relationship between expression and perception, artist and artwork, and artistic expression and form. Their rethinking of the meanings of art and culture transcended temporal and disciplinary boundaries, which led to the reframing of the traditional bonds between pictorial reality and different forms of art. Drawing on intercultural and interdisciplinary perspectives, Marina G. Ogden brings the pioneering thoughts of the three twentieth-century innovators of European culture together. By engaging Sigmund Freud's, William James,' John Ruskin's, Karl Jaspers,' Maurice Merleau-Ponty's and other thinkers' insights into philosophy, art and the nature of creativity with those of Warburg, Kandinsky and Shestov, the exploratory perusal of the concept of renewal evokes interconnections between artistic, philosophical, and psychoanalytic viewpoints.

Table of Contents

Introduction. What do the Historian of Culture, the Abstract Painter and the Religious Existentialist Have in Common?
Part I. Aby Warburg and Wassily Kandinsky: The Pioneers of “Thinking in Pictures.”
Chapter 1. Between Logos and Mythos: Warburg and Kandinsky on Symbols.
Chapter 2. Warburg and Kandinsky on the Renewal of Visual Culture.
Part II. The Seen and the Unseen. On the Paths of Transformation Taken by the Mind.
Chapter 3. The Notion of the Sudden Fundamental Transformation in Lev Shestov's Philosophy.
Chapter 4. On Artistic Divination: Kandinsky and the “Fourth Dimension.”
Part III. Remote Times and Metaphoric Distances.
Chapter 5. Karl Jaspers and Lev Shestov: Philosophical Faith and Faith in Revelation.
Chapter 6. The Phenomenon of the Struwwelpeter in Warburg's Cultural Theory.
Conclusion. Between Humanity and Divinity in Twentieth-century Image Culture.
Appendix. Some Remarks on the Question of the Aggadah and the Philosophy of Lev Shestov.
Bibliography

Product details

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published 05 Feb 2026
Format Ebook (PDF)
Edition 1st
Extent 256
ISBN 9798216262039
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Illustrations 4 b&w photos
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Marina G. Ogden

Marina G. Ogden is Visiting Fellow at The Warburg…

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