Anselm Kiefer: A Monograph

by Dominique Baqué

The work of Anselm Kiefer begins with a crucial question: how, after the Holocaust, can one be an artist within the German tradition? Born at the end of the Second World War, Kiefer’s career represents a quasi-existential quest to redefine Germanness.

This new monograph will examine the foundation of Kiefer’s work: memory and our response to it. Kiefer’s artistic perspective is informed in turn by great literary works, myths, tales, legends, and particularly the world of Kabbalistic mysticism. This unprecedented monograph explores his passion for alchemy, his admiration for great female figures obscured by history, and his relationship with the landscape and nature, a notable topic of his most recent works.

Art historian Dominique Baque´ also highlights an aspect of Kiefer’s work that has received little critical attention: his conceptual understanding of the book and photography. In fact, Kiefer mixes many forms and media, and Baqué expands this study with a discussion of the often-overlooked performance element of his work, starting with his first actions from the end of the 1960s.

Genres: Art

300 pages, Hardcover

First published January 19, 2016

Reviews

[Álvaro Velasco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Está claro que para ver (y comprender, y disfrutar, y...) el arte, no hay como ir a las salas o museos en los que están expuestas las obras originales. En caso de no ser posible, este libro es un buen sucedáneo, gracias a la calidad y detalle de las fotografías. Además, bien es cierto que no siempre se tiene la fortuna de poder ver reunidas un gran número de obras de un determinado autor que nos atrae. En el caso de Kiefer, se encuentran diseminadas por todo el mundo. Sin pretender ser completista, este libro es un buen recurso. Por otro lado, las obras del autor suelen tener formatos de gran tamaño, difíciles de apreciar en un libro. No obstante, con la envergadura de este libro (y su nada desdeñable peso), así como sus hojas desplegables, se puede decir que lo intenta. Hay que añadir que, cuando uno visita una exposición, no siempre dispone a mano de la guía para la perfecta comprensión de la obra. En eso, el texto de este libro también ayuda a desvelar las claves del discurso del autor.

Hasta aquí, las bonanzas del libro. Respecto al artista (lo más importante), bueno, es Anselm Kiefer. Quien se ha parado unos minutos frente a una de sus obras, no necesita más.

[Leanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would go out on a limb and say he is the greatest living artist of my lifetime. This monograph takes time to work through. It is not a dry presentation of Kiefer's biography but rather is a highly subjective look into the sources that have informed the genius of his art. As she says herself: "I have left aside any aspects of the work that did not speak to me directly. In other words, this book offers no claims to be exhaustive."

The book was particularly powerful in uncovering the Jewish textual sources that have influenced the artist over his entire career-- as Baque explains-- Kiefer's work cannot be understood in terms of a linear progression. Each work is a mirror of all his other work. Digging down all his past work is contained in newer pieces and themes disappear and reappear. Poet Paul Celan. Kabbalah. Old Testament women... Jerusalem. Interesting to think how people worried at the start of his career that he was promoting a Nazi past in his Occupation series, only to find him embraced and celebrated in Israel.

His work is a maelstrom. You cannot look away from it. It is like a portal into a different universe. This monograph is really stimulating reading. I wish the translator had been given more credit since the translation us fabulous--English is flawless and engaging... why did I have to search so hard to find his name? The images are beautiful and the publishers went out of their way to produce a gorgeous monograph! Best of the year for me.

[The Jewish Book Council]

"There is an ongoing debate over what constitutes Jewish art, intertwined with the vexing question of who can be considered a Jewish artist—and why. Floating somewhere in proximity to these questions of art, identity, and Jewishness resides the art and career of Anselm Kiefer." Review by Diana Linden for the Jewish Book Council.