Edgar Wind: Art and Embodiment

Description

"Edgar Wind (1900-1971) was a cosmopolitan scholar who made important contributions to many disciplines, including philosophy, Renaissance art history and modern art criticism. Born in Berlin, Wind started his career in Hamburg as a research assistant in the library of cultural theorist Aby Warburg. During the rise of Nazism, Wind played a decisive role in moving Warburg's collection from Hamburg to London, where it became the core of the Warburg Institute, now part of the University of London. Wind's academic career took him to prestigious institutions across Europe and the United States, culminating in his appointment in 1955 as Oxford's first professor of art history. Wind was also a remarkable public intellectual; his 1960 Reith Lectures on BBC radio are one example of his oratorical brilliance. This book considers a crucial question: to understand the work of an art historian, how important is it to know their life story? In the case of Edgar Wind, biography and scholarly endeavour are intimately connected. His intellectual exchanges with leading art historians, philosophers and artists of his day were essential for his research. Moreover, his wife, Margaret Wind, was determined to establish an Edgar Wind Archive after his death. This book is the first comprehensive study in English of Wind's intellectual achievements"--