NEW YORK, Dec. 13, 2006 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- The Warburg Library and Institute is one of the most prestigious reference points for the world art historians. Discover the man behind this most unusual and original library through author Francesca Cernia Slovin's book, Obsessed by Art: Aby Warburg: His Life and Legacy.
Obsessed by Art is the biography of Aby Warburg, an ingenious German Jewish scholar of the 20th century. As heir of a banking empire, he gave up his birthright at a young age to become an art historian. Enamored with the Italian Renaissance, he became obsessed with art history at large and started collecting all related texts. He also collected volumes of unique and original disciplines from magic to astrology and more. Thus, the Warburg Library was born. However while building his library, his mental equilibrium collapsed on the onset of war and he spent many years in a mental institution. Under the Nazis' threat of destruction, Warburg's disciples decided to move the library to London.
Today, the Warburg Institute is a holy place of pilgrimage for every art historian with more than three hundred thousand titles and two hundred thousand periodicals, forty percent of which are missing at the British Library. Obsessed by Art is the author's tribute to Aby Warburg, a labor of love, respect and dedication. This fascinating "literary biography" combines extensive research and documentation with a romanticized mode of narrative, giving the book a touch of intensity in the way Slovin explores the man that Warburg is.
To buy a copy of this useful and compelling biography, just visit your local bookstore or log on at Xlibris.com and other online book retailers today!
About the Author
Francesca Cernia Slovin teaches History of Philosophy at the New School University and writes for major Italian publications. This is her first book, translated into English. After this one (originally published in Italy in 1995 and winner of the prestigious Premio Comisso "Comisso's Prize" for best biography), she is the author of a philosophical novel on Jean-Jacques Rousseau (L'ultima passeggiata, "The Last Walk" 1999) and an historical novel on the origins of Zionism (In principio, "In the beginning", 2003 adopted as a text book in several Italian high schools), all published by Marsilio Editore, a subsidiary of Rizzoli. She is in the Board of Directors of the New York Council for the Humanities and a consultant at the Center for Jewish History.
Obsessed by Art -- by Francesca Cernia Slovin
Aby Warburg: His Life and His Legacy
Publication Date: November 28, 2006
Trade Paperback; $21.99; 227 pages; 1-4257-3915-6; 978-1-4257-3915-7
Cloth Hardback; $31.99; 227 pages; 1-4257-3916-4; 978-1-4257-3916-4
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