By the mid-1950s Horkheimer had become an iconic figure rather than an active author

Evidence

Horkheimer did not feature in any of these publications as an author. But he emerged all the more clearly as a figure who was held in respect. … Sociologica, the first publication of the re-established Institute of Social Research, was, as its dedication stated, produced in honour of a man to whom the Institute owes what is decisive: intellectual leadership, tireless initiative and a mastery of objective conditions, which alone have made it possible for the Institute to survive'. The dedicationunmistakably Adorno's workclosed with the hope that Horkheimer would find leisure to bring out all the philosophy and theory that is pressing to be formulated in his mind. The research which he himself has called to life has largely created the material preconditions for this. We know that he has the strength to draw all the conclusions from his work, which are genuinely needed in today’s world, without wavering.’ Adorno’s hope that he would one day be able to continue the Dialectic of Enlightenment with Horkheimer, and advance the materialist theory of society, was still so firm that he was able to announce it in print. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2005

Categorization

• XREF: Parallels how an intellectual movement’s founder becomes a venerated symbol of the movement they no longer produce — similar dynamic to how Ortega or other founders get canonized in institutional histories. — connects to: Horkheimer had withdrawn from active collaboration by the mid-1950s — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2007; Horkheimer’s postwar academic output largely consisted of Adorno-drafted occasional pieces. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1910

Broader Connections

• Horkheimer had withdrawn from active collaboration by the mid-1950s #corroborates (0.95) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2007
• Horkheimer’s postwar academic output largely consisted of Adorno-drafted occasional pieces. #expands (0.80) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1910