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Anselm Kiefer Heaven and Earth

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The German artist Kiefer's first project titled "The Heavens" ("Die Himmel") sounded the note for the major theme of his work through the following decades. This first was a book-like project with several leaves completed in 1969. Coming after this were sculpture-like, installation-like works (before this form was widely practiced) using the earthy materials of lead, brick, metal, wood, cloth, and often cast-off materials, as used in "found" art, though with not nearly the effect. Born in 1945, Kiefer could never free himself from the oppressiveness of the German psychoses and atrocities of the Nazi years, especially being a Jew. "[Kiefer] does not assume the existence of a paradise, only the ancient need to imagine one." One sees in the artist's dense, bewitching works usually made of assorted materials this primitive longing for paradise impacted by the carnage and horrors of 20th century's crazed politics and warfare on a huge scale. The touches of brightness in many of Kiefer's works are sometimes overwhelmed by bricks and other materials the color of cinders, ashes, an unmistakable reference to the Holocaust and the "scorched earth" warfare waged by the German war machine. It is the natural materials of the art works such as leaves, ground, and cotton spun into clothing, not religious visions of Heaven, which offer any hope of transformative redemption and immortality there may be. As noted in the "Introduction," Kiefer regarded the earth as a "kind of alchemical fragment" still being forged. "In Kiefer's cosmology, the universe is an immense athanor, or alchemical oven, where spirit and matter are in continued process of creation and destruction." The book succeeds estimably as a retrospective on the span of Kiefer's career. Varying perspectives from distant to close-up on the art works enable one to grasp the complex historical, cultural, and mythical thoughts reflected in the composite, multilayered works and also the undying struggle between hope and memory embodied in them.

Anselm's artwork is amazing. This book tells all about the artist, his artwork, and the storys behind them. It has amazing photos and details.

This is a fantastic book. Anselm Keifer is one of my favorite artists of today. His work is so powerful that it is difficult to imagine it translated into a printed form, but this book does a great job of an almost impossible task. Keifer's work must be seen in person to be fully felt, but short of that, this book still manages to impress.