CHÁVEZ, Christine; FLECKNER, Uwe (eds.)
Lightning Symbol and Snake Dance: Aby Warburg and Pueblo Art

Aby Warburg, ceramics, ceremonial dance regalia, and Katsina figures... Ooooh!

The legacy of the art and cultural scientist Aby Warburg offers many subjects for reassessment. Almost unknown until now are the artifacts he collected on a journey through the southwest of the US in 1895/96 and donated to the Museum für Völkerkunde in Hamburg (today Museum am Rothenbaum). The results first unfolded in Warburg's famous lecture on the “snake ritual” of the Hopi (1923). Following Warburg’s transdisciplinary approach, this publication examines his guiding principles in assembling his collection as well as his reading of Pueblo art and culture. It pays tribute to the works and their artistic significance and sheds light on the circumstances of acquisition in the sociopolitical environment of the Pueblo communities of the time. The contemporary fascination with the snake ritual is also a topic. Set against this are the previously neglected perspectives and strategies of Pueblo leaders to regain interpretive sovereignty over culturally sensitive content and imagery. [publishers’ note]

With contributions by Bruce Bernstein, Christine Chávez, Adam Duran, Lindsey Drury, Uwe Fleckner, Rainer Hatoum, Kelley Hays-Gilpin, Lea McChesney, Nancy J. Parezo, Barbara Plankensteiner, Justin Richland, Erhard Schüttpelz, Sascha T. Scott, Bill Sherman, Matthew Vollgraff.

This book is published in conjunction with an exhibition at MARKK in Hamburg.

Published by Hatje Cantz, 2022
Design by Benedikt Reichenbach
Exhibition Catalogues / Art History / Anthropology / Crafts / Postcolonial Studies / Institutional Critique