Iconography and the Internet: Warburg's fantasy becomes reality

Abstract

Title: Iconography and the Internet: Warburg's fantasy becomes reality.

Aim: I propose to show that the Internet presents a perfect projection of the model Aby Warburg established for iconographic analysis. The image archive he established which once seemed vast in its scope now looks insignificant compared to the imagistic data available on the Internet. Also, it might be claimed that the categorization of images into electronic databases is no less quirky or arbitrary than that used by Warburg.

Primary material: In this paper I will draw on several years of experience in teaching image analysis using the Internet and highlight the possibilities of a revitalised application of iconographic methodology. My conclusions will be supported by data from international feedback on my Image Analysis site http://www.newcastle.edu.au/department/fad/fi/woodrow/analysis.htm and formal student evaluation of its effectiveness.

Central argument: The scope of the available archive was always the major limitation in the study of iconography as proposed by Warburg and refined by Erwin Panofsky and Rudolf Wittkower. The Web has erased this restriction although a limitless archive brings its own limitations as Umberto Eco noted.. In particular I will foreground the sometimes negative impact of iconographic focus on our understanding of, and relationship to, material art objects.

Relation to Section Theme: Iconographic methodology using the Internet highlights the contradictory nature of real time access to historical images that must then be constructed into an imaginary evolutionary time frame. LInk to full text: http://www.unites.uqam.ca/AHWA/Meetings/2000.CIHA/index.html