Memory, Metaphor, and Aby Warburg's Atlas of Images (Signale：Modern German Letters, Cultures, and Thought)

TheworkofGermanculturaltheoristandarthistorianAbyWarburg(18661929)hashadalastingeffectonhowwethinkaboutimages.ThisbookisthefirstinEnglishtofocusonhislastproject,theencyclopedicAtlasofImages:Mnemosyne.Beguninearnestin1927,andleftunfinishedatthetimeofWarburg'sdeathin1929,theMnemosyne-Atlasconsistedofsixty-threelargewoodenpanelscoveredwithblackcloth.OnthesepanelsWarburgcarefully,intuitivelyarrangedsomethousandblack-and-whitephotographsofclassicalandRenaissanceartobjects,aswellasofastrologicalandastronomicalimagesrangingfromancientBabylontoWeimarGermany.Hereandthere,healsoincludedmaps,manuscriptpages,andcontemporaryimagestakenfromnewspapers.Tryingthroughtheseconstellationsofimagestomakevisiblethemanypolaritiesthatfueledantiquity'safterlife,WarburgenvisionedtheMnemosyne-Atlasasavitalformofmetaphoricthought.Whilethenondiscursive,frequentlydigressivecharacteroftheMnemosyne-Atlascomplicatesanylinearnarrativeofitsthemesandcontents,ChristopherD.Johnsontracesseveralthematicsequencesinthepanels.BydrawingonWarburg'spublishedandunpublishedwritingsandbyattendingtoWarburg'scardinalideathat"pathosformulas"structuretheWest'sculturalmemory,JohnsonmapsnumeroustensionsbetweenwordandimageintheMnemosyne-Atlas.Inadditiontoexaminingtheworkitself,heconsiderstheliterary,philosophical,andintellectual-historicalimplicationsoftheMnemosyne-Atlas.AsJohnsondemonstrates,theMnemosyne-AtlasisnotsimplytheculminationofWarburgslifelongstudyofRenaissanceculturebuttheultimateexpressionofhisnowliteral,nowmetaphoricsearchforsyncreticsolutionstotheurgentproblemsposedbythehistoryofartandculture.