Visual resources: proposals for an ideal network

Abstract

Aby Warburg used a system of screens, wooden frames covered with fabric, upon which he displayed photographs. He could compare images, manipulate them in different arrangements, and order them in support of a visual argument. The computer and the video screen allow present day art historians to contemplate the creation of a much larger and more sophisticated version of Warburg’s screens in an ideal network of images and data. Images of works of art will be identified by basic information and accompanied with all the relevant information of a full catalogue entry. Correctly formulated this information can be retrieved in various ways to allow for making numerous connections between works of art and revealing a variety of relationships between them. Each work can thus be studied within a visual and historical context or compared with works of art sharing similar characteristics from widely different cultures and periods. The number of works of art existing in the world is very large, and the information which may be recorded about them is immense. Forming the ideal network is a considerable undertaking and one that will take the help and co-operation of the whole art historical community.