Overview

This book explores the meanings of the concept of renewal in the work of the three twentieth-century innovators of European culture. Aby Warburg’s, Wassily Kandinsky’s, and Lev Shestov’s 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. Making a compelling case for affirming the concept of renewal as the foremost idea galvanizing cultural advancement in Europe at the beginning of the twentieth century as well as for its continued contemporary relevance, Ogden argues that the work of Warburg, Kandinsky and Shestov redefined the relationship between expression and perception, perception and memory, artist and artwork, and between artistic expression and form. 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.

Full Product Details

Author:   Marina G. Ogden (University of Glasgow)
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Imprint:   Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN:  

9781666964943

ISBN 10:   1666964948
Pages:   256
Publication Date:   05 February 2026
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  

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

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Author Information

Marina G. Ogden is Visiting Fellow at The Warburg Institute, School of Advance Study, at the University of London.

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