Essay on anselm kiefer ash flower by anselm kiefer

Anselm Kiefer was born in May 1945 in Donaueschingen, a part of the future Federal Republic of Germany, and belongs to that second generation of Germans who grew up without reference to or memories of the Nazi regime.

Three histories converge in a single photograph: the early nineteenth century, the 1930s, and the time of the work’s making in the late 1960s. For Kiefer, understanding history begins with its invocation, restaging, or excavation. Layers of multiple histories and media are hallmarks of Kiefer’s work.

The Anselm Kiefer retrospective at the Pompidou Centre in Paris will end in a few weeks and all that will be left of the 150 monumental paintings and 40 glass display cases is the question: What happens after Kiefer? It will not be easy for the artistic panorama of the next few years to match the impact of this exhibition.

Anselm Kiefer, “Nigredo – Morgenthau” (2012), acrylic, emulsion, oil, and shellac on photograph mounted on canvas, 74 13/16 x 149 5/8 inches (© Anselm Kiefer, courtesy Gagosian Gallery, photography by Charles Duprat) However, the rest of the works, with a few exceptions, range from the middling to the embarrassing.