Sara Cwynar in The Walrus

August 14, 2026

She Made Ads. Then She Made Art Out of Them

By: Brandon Kaufman

In 1927, the gravely ill German art historian Aby Warburg began constructing dozens of burlap-laced wooden panels, each devoted to a different theme in the history of Western culture. They ranged from “Astrology and mythology: projections of the cosmos” to “Superlatives of the language of gestures.” To each, he pinned photographs, diagrams, sketches, and other miscellanea, juxtaposing images across centuries.

Warburg was close to death, and so, too, he may have sensed, was the order he was trying to document. He wanted to synthesize the entire cultural history of the West. He called the project the Mnemosyne Atlas, after the Greek goddess of memory. When he died in 1929, he had completed sixty-three panels and assembled nearly a thousand images, with plans for even more.

To read the full article visit The Walrus.

For more information about Sara Cwynar please contact the gallery:

info@coopercolegallery.com

+1.416.531.8000

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