Crisis and collection

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This study examines how Aby Warburg, W. G. Sebald, and Gerhard Richter investigate collective cultural memory through contemporary visual symbols. It uncovers previously unrecognized intellectual connections among their visual memory archives and the traditions that shape them. The work highlights the reinvention of the album and the atlas as narrative and pictorial models, paralleling the modern interest in social networks like Facebook. This hybridity allows for the integration of diverse fields of knowledge and memory, resonating with contemporary audiences and explaining the ongoing intrigue with these memory archives. By analyzing the representation of the past through images, particularly those reflecting a muted history of Germany and Europe, Warburg, Sebald, and Richter engage in projects aimed at rescuing memory in response to acute “memory crises,” a term coined by Richard Terdiman to describe historical contexts that prompt mnemonic efforts. This concept serves as a theoretical lens for understanding their shared preoccupation with memory, framing their projects as exemplary, symptomatic, and diagnostic.