Iconographic Consciousness and Artistic Practice

Some philosophers, such as, for instance, Aby Warburg and Erwin Panofsky, locate problems of meaning of images in the broad field of culture studies. This authoress begins from describing the mechanism of emergence of symbols as presented in Warburg in his philosophical work. Then she discusses the role of allegory, common memory, and the specific project, Atlas Mnemosyne, undertaken by Warburg. She finds that the conception of understanding of symbols is an essential contribution by Warburg to philosophical analysis. She compares his position with those of Erwin Panofsky, Ernst Cassirer and Sigmund Freud. Against this background, she discusses the role and importance of iconographic consciousness, and presents Warburg as a forerunner of contemporary research on visual culture.