Mixed media . Gouache, photograph and collage with lead.76.5 x 126.5 cm. [KT].
• Oscillating between the visible and the invisible, Kiefer's work fascinates us with a tremendous suggestive power that points to a world beyond the rational. • In his characteristic sculptural collage technique, myths and legends, liminal worlds, and unconscious themes merge to form a complex composition. • Kiefer is one of the most influential artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. • In 2023, Wim Wenders shot Kiefer's biography "Anselm - Das Rauschen der Zeit", which premiered at Cannes. • His works are in the most important collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Tate Gallery, London, and the Centre Pompidou, Paris.
Anselm Kiefer, Heaven and Earth, Modern Museum of Fort Worth, September 25, 2005 - January 8, 2006; Museum of Contemporary Art, Montréal, February 12 - April 30, 2006; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden , Smithsonian Institution, June 18 - September 10, 2006; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, October 15 - January 14, 2007, p. 130 (full-page color illu.) and p. 179. Anselm Kiefer, Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, March 28 - September 3, 2007, no. 181, p. 400 (full-page color illu.) and p. 494. Seestücke. Von Max Beckmann bis Gerhard Richter, Hubertus-Wald-Forum und Galerie der Gegenwart der Hamburger Kunsthalle, June 8 - October 16, 2007, p. 127 (full-page color illu.). Fixsterne - 100 Jahre Kunst auf Papier. Adolph Menzel bis Kiki Smith, Schleswig Holsteinische Landesmuseen, Schloss Gottorf, May 31 - September 20, 2009, p. 153 (full-page color illu.). Wunder auf Papier. Über 100 Jahre Zeichenkunst, Kunsthaus Villa Jauss, Oberstdorf, July 23 - October 3, 2010, no page number (illustrated)
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg. From a Swiss collection
Anselm Kiefer's works profoundly explore history, mythology, the conflicts and contradictions of civilization, forgotten knowledge, and our collective memories. They are multi-layered objects that, for their surface structure and general nature, seem like artifacts from the depths of human history. Moreover, Kiefer dedicates his artistic endeavors to the realm between the visible and the invisible. Mystical beings that wander back and forth between heaven and earth like messengers, creating a connection, serve as an interface with the figure of the artist. In Kiefer's view, the artist can also assume the task of bringing things that society has forgotten, repressed, or marginalized to the surface by visualizing them. The white robes, applied in a collage technique, float above the broad water surface, with monumental cliffs towering in the background. Behind them, we see a horizontal flight of stone steps. Their delicate, fragile surface, with its silvery, leaden monochrome quality, has a certain air of otherworldliness. Around 2002, Jewish mysticism, which describes the ascent to the seven heavens and thus the liberation from the constraints of all worldly things, offered the ideal projection surface for Kiefer, who was in search of meaning, to artistically explore the existential question of the origin and limits of our earthly existence. As in parallel narratives in Christianity or ancient mythology, this ascent is preceded by a descent into the underworld, a confrontation with what is threatening and unsettling us. With its sculptural appeal, the present work is indicative of his intensive, programmatic artistic examination of the bridges between heaven and earth, this world and the afterlife, as well as reason and magic. Kiefer's works are compelling not only because of their art-historical significance but also because of their incomparable materiality and symbolic depth, engaging viewers in an intense dialogue that appeals to individual and collective consciousness and exerts a magical attraction. [KT]
Condition report on request katalogisierung@kettererkunst.de
Lot Details
Mixed media . Gouache, photograph and collage with lead.76.5 x 126.5 cm. [KT].
• Oscillating between the visible and the invisible, Kiefer's work fascinates us with a tremendous suggestive power that points to a world beyond the rational. • In his characteristic sculptural collage technique, myths and legends, liminal worlds, and unconscious themes merge to form a complex composition. • Kiefer is one of the most influential artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. • In 2023, Wim Wenders shot Kiefer's biography "Anselm - Das Rauschen der Zeit", which premiered at Cannes. • His works are in the most important collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Tate Gallery, London, and the Centre Pompidou, Paris.
Anselm Kiefer, Heaven and Earth, Modern Museum of Fort Worth, September 25, 2005 - January 8, 2006; Museum of Contemporary Art, Montréal, February 12 - April 30, 2006; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden , Smithsonian Institution, June 18 - September 10, 2006; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, October 15 - January 14, 2007, p. 130 (full-page color illu.) and p. 179. Anselm Kiefer, Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, March 28 - September 3, 2007, no. 181, p. 400 (full-page color illu.) and p. 494. Seestücke. Von Max Beckmann bis Gerhard Richter, Hubertus-Wald-Forum und Galerie der Gegenwart der Hamburger Kunsthalle, June 8 - October 16, 2007, p. 127 (full-page color illu.). Fixsterne - 100 Jahre Kunst auf Papier. Adolph Menzel bis Kiki Smith, Schleswig Holsteinische Landesmuseen, Schloss Gottorf, May 31 - September 20, 2009, p. 153 (full-page color illu.). Wunder auf Papier. Über 100 Jahre Zeichenkunst, Kunsthaus Villa Jauss, Oberstdorf, July 23 - October 3, 2010, no page number (illustrated)
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg. From a Swiss collection
Anselm Kiefer's works profoundly explore history, mythology, the conflicts and contradictions of civilization, forgotten knowledge, and our collective memories. They are multi-layered objects that, for their surface structure and general nature, seem like artifacts from the depths of human history. Moreover, Kiefer dedicates his artistic endeavors to the realm between the visible and the invisible. Mystical beings that wander back and forth between heaven and earth like messengers, creating a connection, serve as an interface with the figure of the artist. In Kiefer's view, the artist can also assume the task of bringing things that society has forgotten, repressed, or marginalized to the surface by visualizing them. The white robes, applied in a collage technique, float above the broad water surface, with monumental cliffs towering in the background. Behind them, we see a horizontal flight of stone steps. Their delicate, fragile surface, with its silvery, leaden monochrome quality, has a certain air of otherworldliness. Around 2002, Jewish mysticism, which describes the ascent to the seven heavens and thus the liberation from the constraints of all worldly things, offered the ideal projection surface for Kiefer, who was in search of meaning, to artistically explore the existential question of the origin and limits of our earthly existence. As in parallel narratives in Christianity or ancient mythology, this ascent is preceded by a descent into the underworld, a confrontation with what is threatening and unsettling us. With its sculptural appeal, the present work is indicative of his intensive, programmatic artistic examination of the bridges between heaven and earth, this world and the afterlife, as well as reason and magic. Kiefer's works are compelling not only because of their art-historical significance but also because of their incomparable materiality and symbolic depth, engaging viewers in an intense dialogue that appeals to individual and collective consciousness and exerts a magical attraction. [KT]
Condition report on request katalogisierung@kettererkunst.de
