Full Description
This book accompanies a major exhibition in the Ashmolean Museum on the early work of internationally acclaimed German artist Anselm Kiefer. It focuses on his paintings, drawings, photographs and artist books created between 1969 and 1982, in the private collections of the Hall Art Foundation. Anselm Kiefer: Early Works is the first institutional show and publication in the UK dedicated to Kiefer's early practice. The book introduces themes, subjects and styles that have become signature to Kiefer's work, while providing a more intimate and complementary context for his large-scale installations that he is best known for today. The early works are accompanied by three recent paintings from the artist's own collections and White Cube, chosen by the artist himself.
Art historians, artists, curators and experts of Kiefer's art from Germany, Austria, Belgium, Britain and the US have contributed 46 original texts on individual works, organised in a chronological structure. An illustrated chronology at the end of the book compiled by Stephanie Biron from the Hall Art Foundation provides an overview of the artist's early practice and life, to contextualise the works.
The book begins with Kiefer's iconic Occupations and Heroische Sinnbilder series, created in 1969 and 1970, which Kiefer views as his first serious works. Kiefer was among the first generation of German post-war artists to directly confront the country's troubled past and identity. Full of complex references to German socio-political history but also to culture, literature and his personal life, Kiefer's early works carry a unique iconography, linking classic ideas of great art with a distinctive understanding of concrete artistic materiality. The landscapes in his watercolours are historically charged; hand-written words on paintings are closely linked with poetry well known to most German viewers; motifs and symbols point at Nazi ideologies and a collective feeling of guilt.
Contents
DIRECTOR'S FOREWORD 9
Alexander Sturgis
INTRODUCTION 10
Lena Fritsch
IN FOCUS
1
FÜR JEAN GENET, 1969 16
Christian Weikop
2
BESETZUNG (OCCUPATION), 1969-2016 26
Christian Weikop
3
HEROISCHE SINNBILDER, 1970 30
Christian Weikop
4
ICH - DU, 1971 34
Lena Fritsch
5
LANDSCHAFT BEI BUCHEN, 1971 38
Lena Fritsch
6
WALD, 1973/74 40
Lena Fritsch
7
DIE ETSCH, MID-1970S 44
Lena Fritsch
8
V ON OSCAR WILDE FÜR JULIA, 1973 47
Liz Rideal
9
T HE DREAM KING, 1974 51
Liz Rideal
10
LANDSCHAFT MIT KOPF, 1973 55
Sabine Schütz
11
UNTITLED (U-BOAT), 1973 58
Lena Fritsch
12
SOL INVICTUS HELIOGABAL, 1974 61
Lena Fritsch
13/14
NASCITA DI PITTURA (THE BIRTH OF PAINTING ) / 64
UNTITLED, 1974
Lena Fritsch
15
HOW TO PAINT NUDES, 1974 70
Lena Fritsch
16
STILL LIFE IS EXCITING, 1974 72
Lena Fritsch
17
DAS DEUTSCHE VOLKSGESICHT. 76
KOHLE FÜR 2000 JAHRE, 1974
Sabine Schütz
18
UNTITLED, 1974 94
Lena Fritsch
19
AUSBRENNEN DES LANDKREISES BUCHEN, 95
1974
Lena Fritsch
20
HELIOGABAL, 1974-75 110
Lena Fritsch
21/22
STEFAN!, 1975 / STEFAN II, 1975 113
23
DIE KUNST GEHT KNAPP NICHT UNTER, 1975 118
Lena Fritsch
24
BRÜNHILDES TOD, 1976 121
Liz Rideal
25
UNTERNEHMEN TRAPPENFANG, 1976 124
Lisa Saltzman
26
W EGE DER WELTWEISHEIT, 1977 128
Antonia Hoerschelmann
27
W EGE DER WELTWEISHEIT: GOTTFRIED KELLER, 1977 132
An Van Camp
28
W EGE DER WELTWEISHEIT: GOTTFRIED KELLER, 1977 145
An van Camp
29
ENGEL MIT PALETTE, 1977-78 152
Lisa Saltzman
30
VON SCHLIEFFEN, 1977 156
Lena Fritsch
31
FÜR JULIA, 1977-78 158
Lena Fritsch
32
PALETTE MIT FLÜGELN, 1978 162
Harriet Häußler
33
BRÜNHILDE GRANE, 1978 165
Lena Fritsch
34
YGGDRASIL, 1978 168
Harriet Häußler
35
RITT AN DIE WEICHSEL, 1980-81 172
Lena Fritsch
36
NOCH IST POLEN NICHT VERLOREN, 1981 174
Lena Fritsch
37
BRÜNHILDE, 1981 178
Lena Fritsch
38
URD, WERDANDI, SKULD (DIE NORNEN), 1981 181
Lena Fritsch
39
MARGARETHE-SULAMIT, 1981 184
Lena Fritsch
40
ET LA TERRE TREMBLE ENCORE, 1981 188
Lena Fritsch
41
DER RHEIN, 1982 191
Antonia Hoerschelmann
42
INNENRAUM, 1982 195
Richard Calvocoressi
43/44
DIE BLÄTTER FALLEN / UND IN DEN NÄCHTEN 198
FÄLLT DIE SCHWERE ERDE, 2017-23
Lena Fritsch
45
W ER JETZT KEIN HAUS HAT, 2023 199
Lena Fritsch
CONTRIBUTORS 210
CHRONOLOGY 212
Stephanie Biron
