Matthew Vollgraff

Matthew Vollgraff is a Researcher at the Warburg Institute (University of London), specializing in the intersection of art, science, and anthropology in modern Germany. His work explores how aesthetics, anthropology, and psychology interacted in colonial and interdisciplinary contexts. He holds a PhD from Princeton University (2019) and has held fellowships at the University of Hamburg’s ‘Naturbilder’ group and Berlin’s ZfL. His current project, ‘Memory Images: Art, Mind and the Lure of Deep Time,’ examines the role of non-Western art in shaping German scientific and colonial thought around 1900.

Key research themes include the ‘origin of art’ debates, colonial administration’s use of indigenous imagery, and the legacy of Aby Warburg’s methodologies. He is completing a monograph, The Science of Expression, on gesture as a scientific object in early 20th-century Germany. His work has appeared in Grey Room, October, and History of Anthropology Review.

Vollgraff’s research emphasizes the disruptive role of visual media in colonial knowledge systems, challenging Eurocentric narratives in art history. His projects often involve transnational collaborations, such as the Bilderfahrzeuge initiative, which he joined after prior research in Hamburg and Berlin.