This article should be translated from material at de:Anselm Kiefer.

Anselm Kiefer To the Unknown Painter (Dem unbekannten Maler), 1983.

Anselm Kiefer Zim Zum, 1990, Acrylic, emulsion, crayon, shellac, ashes and canvas on lead, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C.

Anselm Kiefer Grane, Woodcut with paint and collage on paper mounted on linen, Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Anselm Kiefer (born March 8, 1945, Donaueschingen) is a German painter and sculptor. He studied with Joseph Beuys during the 1970s. His works incorporate materials like straw, ash, clay, lead, and shellac. The poems of Paul Celan have played a role in developing Kiefer's themes of German history and the horror of the Holocaust, as have the theological concepts of Kabbalah. Image File history File links Kiefer. ... Image File history File links Kiefer. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 539 pixelsFull resolution (1039 × 700 pixel, file size: 147 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)Zim Zum by Anselm Kiefer, 1990, acrylic, emulsion, crayon, shellac, ashes and canvas on lead, National Gallery of Art (Washington, D. C.) Fair use rationale: This... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 539 pixelsFull resolution (1039 × 700 pixel, file size: 147 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)Zim Zum by Anselm Kiefer, 1990, acrylic, emulsion, crayon, shellac, ashes and canvas on lead, National Gallery of Art (Washington, D. C.) Fair use rationale: This... The West building of the National Gallery of Art with the East building visible behind and to to the left The National Gallery of Art is an art museum, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The museum was established in 1937 by the Congress, with funds for... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 510 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (596 × 700 pixel, file size: 106 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)Grane by Anselm Kiefer. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 510 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (596 × 700 pixel, file size: 106 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)Grane by Anselm Kiefer. ... View across garden, in new MoMA building by Yoshio Taniguchi. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Wikiquote is a sister project of Wikipedia, using the same MediaWiki software. ... is the 67th day of the year (68th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... Donaueschingen is a city in the southwest of Baden-Württemberg in the Schwarzwald-Baar District. ... Painting by Rembrandt self-portrait Detail from Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez, in which the painter portrayed himself at work For the computer graphics program, see Corel Painter. ... Sculptor redirects here. ... Joseph Beuys (May 12, 1921 – January 23, 1986) was an influential German artist who came to prominence in the 1960s. ... Bales of straw bundles of rice straw Pile of straw bales, sheltered under a tarpaulin Straw is an agricultural byproduct, the dry stalk of a cereal plant, after the nutrient grain or seed has been removed. ... The Gay Head cliffs in Marthas Vineyard are made almost entirely of clay. ... For Pb as an abbreviation, see PB. General Name, Symbol, Number lead, Pb, 82 Chemical series Post-transition metals or poor metals Group, Period, Block 14, 6, p Appearance bluish gray Standard atomic weight 207. ... Look up shellac in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Paul Celan Paul Celan (November 23, 1920 – approximately April 20, 1970) was the most frequently used pseudonym of Paul Antschel, one of the major poets of the post-World War II era. ... “Shoah” redirects here. ... This article is about traditional Jewish Kabbalah. ...

Kiefer ranks among the best-known and most successful, but also most disputed German artists after World War II. In his entire body of work, Kiefer argues with the past and addresses taboo and controversial issues from recent history. Themes from Nazi rule are particularly reflected in his work; for instance, the painting "Margarethe" (oil and straw on canvas) was inspired by Paul Celan's well-known poem "Todesfuge" ("Death Fugue"). Polemical discussions in the media over the value of his artistic work have taken place for many decades. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... This article is about cultural prohibitions in general, for other uses, see Taboo (disambiguation). ... Paul Celan Paul Celan (November 23, 1920 – approximately April 20, 1970) was the most frequently used pseudonym of Paul Antschel, one of the major poets of the post-World War II era. ...

His works are characterised by a dull/musty, nearly depressive, destructive style and are often done in large scale formats. In most of his works, the use of photography as an output surface is prevalent and earth and other raw materials of nature are often incorporated. It is also characteristic of his work to find signatures and/or names of humans, legendary figures or places particularly pregnant with history in nearly all of his paintings. All of these are encoded sigils through which Kiefer seeks to process the past; this often gets him linked with a style called "New Symbolism." Photography [fәtɑgrәfi:],[foʊtɑgrәfi:] is the process of recording pictures by means of capturing light on a light-sensitive medium, such as a film or electronic sensor. ...

Life and work

In 1951 he moved to Ottersdorf and attended grammar school in Rastatt. In 1966 he left law and Romance language studies at University of Freiburg to study at art academies in Freiburg, Karlsruhe, and Düsseldorf. Kiefer began his career as a body massager with performances in which he mimicked the Nazi salute calling for Germans to remember and to acknowledge the loss to their culture through the mad xenophobia of the Third Reich. In 1969 at Galerie am Kaiserplatz, Karlsruhe, he presented his first single exhibition "Besetzungen (Occupations)" with a series of photographs about controversial political actions. Map of Germany showing Rastatt Rastatt is a city in the District of Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. ... Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg (German Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg ) was founded 1457 in Freiburg by the Habsburgs. ... This article refers to the city in Baden-Württemberg. ... Karlsruhe (population 285,812 in 2006) is a city in the south west of Germany, in the Bundesland Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border. ... The title of this article contains the character ü. Where it is unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as Duesseldorf. ... The Roman salute is a closed finger, flat-palm-down hand raised at an angle (usually 45 degrees) and was used by the Roman Republic. ... Look up xenophobia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Karlsruhe (population 285,812 in 2006) is a city in the south west of Germany, in the Bundesland Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border. ...

By 1970 while studying under the tutelage of Joseph Beuys in Düsseldorf Kunstakademie, his stylistic leanings resembled Georg Baselitz' approach. He worked with glass, straw, wood and plant parts. The use of these materials meant that his artworks became temporary and fragile, which Kiefer himself is well aware of. The fragility of his work is contrasted against the stark subject matter in his paintings. This use of familiar materials to express ideas, was influenced by Joseph Beuys' art practice, in which Beuys used fat and carpet felt. It is also typical of the Neo-expressionist style. In the 1970s he incorporated German mythology (see also: Jonathan Meese) in particular , and in the following decade he argued with the Kabbalah. He went on expanded journeys throughout Europe, USA and the middle east, in which the latter two journeys further influenced his work. Besides paintings, Kiefer created sculptures, watercolors, woodcuts, photographs and books. Joseph Beuys (May 12, 1921 – January 23, 1986) was an influential German artist who came to prominence in the 1960s. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Glass can be made transparent and flat, or into other shapes and colors as shown in this sphere from the Verrerie of Brehat in Brittany. ... Bales of straw bundles of rice straw Pile of straw bales, sheltered under a tarpaulin Straw is an agricultural byproduct, the dry stalk of a cereal plant, after the nutrient grain or seed has been removed. ... Trunks A tree trunk as found at the Veluwe, The Netherlands Wood is a solid material derived from woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs. ... Jonathan Meese (23 January 1970 in Tokyo from Welsh and German parents) is a painter, sculptor, and performance artist who describes himself as a cultural exorcist. He studied in Hamburg. ... This article is about traditional Jewish Kabbalah. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ...

By the 1980s, Kiefer’s themes widened from a focus on Germany's role in civilization to the fate of art and culture in general. His work became more sculptural and involves not only national identity and collective memory, but also occult symbolism, theology and mysticism. The theme of all the work is the trauma experienced by entire societies, and the continual rebirth and renewal in life. The word occult comes from the Latin occultus (clandestine, hidden, secret), referring to knowledge of the hidden.[1] In the medical sense it is used commonly to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e. ... Theology finds its scholars pursuing the understanding of and providing reasoned discourse of religion, spirituality and God or the gods. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

In 1990 he was awarded a Wolf Prize. In 1999 the Japan Art Association awarded him the Praemium Imperiale for his lifetime achievements. In the explanatory statement it reads: The Wolf Prize has been awarded annually since 1978 to living scientists and artists for achievements in the interest of mankind and friendly relations among peoples . ...

"A complex critical engagement with history runs through Anselm Kiefer's work. His paintings as well as the sculptures of Georg Baselitz created an uproar at the 1980 Venice Biennale: the viewers had to decide whether the apparent Nazi motifs were meant ironically or whether the works were meant to convey actual fascist ideas. Kiefer worked with the conviction that art could heal a traumatized nation and a vexed, divided world. He created epic paintings on giant canvases that called up the history of German culture with the help of depictions of figures such as Richard Wagner or Goethe, thus continuing the historical tradition of painting as a medium of addressing the world. Only a few contemporary artists have such a pronounced sense of art's duty to engage the past and the ethical questions of the present, and are in the position to express the possibility of the absolution of guilt through human effort."

Since 1992 he established in Barjac, France and transformed his 35-hectare studio compound La Ribaute into a Gesamtkunstwerk, which can literally be entered. His studio is enormous and in many ways is a comment on industrialization. He has created there an extensive system of glass buildings, archives, installations, storerooms for materials and paintings, subterranean chambers and corridors. Barjac is the name of several communes in France: Barjac, in the Ariège department Barjac, in the Gard department Barjac, in the Lozère department Category: ...

From 1995 to 2001, Kiefer started a cycle of large paintings of the cosmos. He also started to turn to sculpture, though lead still remains his preferred medium.

The builder and arts patron Hans Grothe will present 30 to 50 of the artist's works in the yet-to-be-constructed Anselm Kiefer Museum near the Kurfürstendamm in Berlin in 2007. The Kurfürstendamm, Berlins upscale retail neighbourhood The Kurfürstendamm is one of the most famous avenues in Berlin, Germany. ... This article is about the capital of Germany. ...

External links

• Kiefer takes us round his London White Cube show (BBC Collective)
• http://www.leninimports.com/anselm_kiefer_bio.html
• http://www.artchive.com/artchive/ftptoc/kiefer_ext.html
• Anselm Kiefer at Gagosian Gallery
• Anselm Kiefer at Acquavella Galleries