The problem of the primitive in Aby Warburg's legacy: Frances Yates between Art History and Anthropology (1938-1964)

• Grant number: 23/07581-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: May 01, 2024
• End date: October 02, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Arts - Art Fundamentals and Criticism
• Principal Investigator: Cássio da Silva Fernandes
• Grantee: Lucas Augusto Pietra
• Host Institution: Escola de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (EFLCH). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Guarulhos. Guarulhos , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/17848-7 - Frances Yates and Aby Warburg's Legacy: Intellectual itineraries in the construction of Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition, BE.EP.MS

Abstract

This research focuses on studying the notion of the primitive in Frances Yates' work 'Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition,' published in 1964. By challenging Giordano Bruno's place in the history of sciences, Yates aimed to place him within the history of art and Renaissance culture, emphasizing the significance of magic and astrology in his writings to portray both Bruno and the Renaissance with primitive characteristics. However, Yates' use of this concept traces back to an intellectual framework associated with Aby Warburg's legacy and his Kulturwissenschaft (Science of Culture), which was distinguished by the incorporation of tools from other disciplines, particularly anthropology. Therefore, the objective of this research is to examine this notion, significant to both Warburg and anthropology at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century, and utilized by Yates within the intellectual environment of the Warburg Institute. It is necessary to reconstruct how Yates accessed primarily Warburg's writings but also those of figures from anthropology strongly connected to his legacy, such as Franz Boas, Tito Vignoli, and Lucien Lévy-Brühl, to address topics related to the legacy of ancient paganism, its presence in the Renaissance, and its connections with the emergence of the so-called scientific modernity.