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Aby Warburg and the Spirit of Capitalism

Context and contribution: The chapter appears in a book also co-edited by Frederic Schwartz; he was involved in the conception and funding of it, commissioning the articles, edited and liaised for 10 contributions and wrote a preface. The chapter he contributed to the volume examines Aby Warburg’s relationship to Marxism through his encounter with the sociologist Max Weber’s thesis about the origins of capitalism. This collection of essays is evidence of the resurgence in interest in Marx in the wake of the recent global crisis, especially among younger generations, bringing together thirty academics who are reshaping art history along Marxist lines from the United States, Britain, Europe and Asia.

Research imperatives and process: Beyond illuminating the methodological differences between Warburg and Weber, the exchange allows Schwartz to map something that has hitherto escaped attention: Warburg’s ambivalent and uncomfortable engagement with turn-of-the-century debates about the nature and origins of capitalism. The essay goes on to explore how Warburg’s exploration of religion and economic forms was recognised by critical theorists like Benjamin, Kracauer and Bloch, who reconnected the art-historical and economic-historical debates. Thus, though Warburg avoided the Marxist aspects his own work raised, that work was still important to Marxists later on.