I'm puzzled by the comments on this very interesting post. Is Warburg's work to be dismissed simply because he was a rich individual from a family of (Jewish) bankers? I prefer to consider his efforts in the context of his time: against the background of the growing Nazi intolerance and iconoclasm. At least he used his wealth to fund a scholarly passion, and he left a body of theoretical work and a collection that reflects his research and the intellectual environment of his time. It is there for us to engage with critically. Dismissing it because it came from a privileged bourgeois background seems to me to be too simplistic.
One has to laugh at the empowered circle of society declaring what is culture, noble and good. What else can you do? If all do not have equal access to such opportunity then by definition this is perceptual palsy. Money loves money and little else, making one feel sorry for the wealthy, its over arching power so often all-deceiving. Better to be humble and poor than arrogant and rich.
I'm puzzled by the comments on this very interesting post. Is Warburg's work to be dismissed simply because he was a rich individual from a family of (Jewish) bankers? I prefer to consider his efforts in the context of his time: against the background of the growing Nazi intolerance and iconoclasm. At least he used his wealth to fund a scholarly passion, and he left a body of theoretical work and a collection that reflects his research and the intellectual environment of his time. It is there for us to engage with critically. Dismissing it because it came from a privileged bourgeois background seems to me to be too simplistic.
One has to laugh at the empowered circle of society declaring what is culture, noble and good. What else can you do? If all do not have equal access to such opportunity then by definition this is perceptual palsy. Money loves money and little else, making one feel sorry for the wealthy, its over arching power so often all-deceiving. Better to be humble and poor than arrogant and rich.
Epic bit of work in that library. Thanks.