A “Grey Savior”: Kenneth Clark and the rescue of Hamburg’s Warburg Institute

dc.contributor.authorBerkowitz, Michael
dc.contributor.organisationTechnische Universität Berlin, Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung
dc.date.accessioned2023-01-11T14:02:39Z
dc.date.available2023-01-11T14:02:39Z
dc.date.issued2021
dc.description.abstractKenneth Clark (1903-1983), an art historian, was a leading public intellectual of mid-20th century Britain. Clark was a key figure in the effective transplantation of Hamburg's Warburg Institute to London. Clark perceived the intellectual approach of Aby Warburg (1866-1929), who championed the contextualization of symbolism, as more historically sound and fruitful than the personalized aesthetics of Bernard Berenson (1865-1959). Before hearing Warburg lecture in Rome, January 1929, Clark had professed his fealty to Berenson. While Clark was sensitive to the plight of German Jews after the advent of the Nazis, this article argues that his greatest motivation was to save the Warburg's library and other treasures of its research center. Because Clark was mindful of how antisemitism functioned in Britain—sharing some of these ideas himself, along with other nasty stereotypes about Jews and money—he strongly advised Fritz Saxl not to waste time or energy pursuing a home at Oxford or Cambridge. Clark suspected, most likely correctly, that the only safe harbor for the Warburg, in Britain, could be the University of London, especially since it had recently welcomed the creation of the Courtauld Institute. Clark saw himself as having unrivalled insight into how Jews operated in both the market for fine art, as well as its scholarly interpretations. Clark's sense of how antisemitism would present obstacles for Saxl, and how to imagine alternatives, proved invaluable for the migration of the Warburg Institute to London.en
dc.identifier.isbn978-3-86331-617-4
dc.identifier.issn0941-8563
dc.identifier.urihttps://depositonce.tu-berlin.de/handle/11303/17975
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.14279/depositonce-16767
dc.language.isoen
dc.relation.ispartofhttps://doi.org/10.14279/depositonce-16703
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
dc.subject.ddc900 Geschichte und Geografiede
dc.subject.ddc320 Politikwissenschaftde
dc.subject.ddc300 Sozialwissenschaftende
dc.subject.otherKenneth Clarken
dc.subject.otherAby Warburgen
dc.subject.otherBernard Berensonen
dc.subject.otherFritz Saxlen
dc.subject.otherUniversity of Londonen
dc.titleA “Grey Savior”: Kenneth Clark and the rescue of Hamburg’s Warburg Instituteen
dc.typeBook Part
dc.type.versionpublishedVersion
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.booktitleJahrbuch für Antisemitismusforschung 30 (2021)
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.editorSchüler-Springorum, Stefanie
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.originalpublishernameMetropol
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.originalpublisherplaceBerlin
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.pageend262
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.pagestart240
dcterms.rightsHolder.referenceVerlagsvertrag
tub.accessrights.dnbfree
tub.affiliationFak. 1 Geistes- und Bildungswissenschaften::Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung::N/A (Not Applicable)
tub.publisher.universityorinstitutionTechnische Universität Berlin
tub.series.issuenumber30
tub.series.nameJahrbuch für Antisemitismusforschung

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