Has an instinctive aversion to photography inhibited dissenting artists from producing potentially powerful and exciting art? I look again at the photographs of Anselm Kiefer.
Anselm Kiefer is an intriguing artist for sure. The Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, and the National Gallery in Canberra here In Australia, hold some of his works. However, the most powerful piece of his work I’ve seen was ‘The Morgenthau Plan’ (in the Gagosian, Paris) years’ ago. The gallery was filled with a sculpture of a golden wheat field enclosed in a huge cage. The work referred, of course, to the Plan proposed by the US Treasury in 1944 to de-industrialise post-war Germany, effectively making it impossible for the country to ever wage war again.
It was a deeply moving piece to view, and I thought about it for long time thereafter. Kiefer has a belligerent determination to confront Germany’s history. I wonder what he thinks of Winston Churchill? Thank you so much for such an interesting analysis of Kiefer’s work.
I've seen a few displays of Kiefer's work and I've always got a lot out of it, even if much of it I found difficult or ugly. It's very thought provoking and even beautiful. Kiefer seems to be ambivalent on many of the topics you'd expect a liberal to be clear about. That suggests his political compass might be fairly complex.
In case anyone wants to read more on Kiefer and nationalism, you can find more in my book "Blood, Soil, Paint".
Thanks again for your consistently thoughtful comments, LoS. Wishing you and your family well.
Yes, Kiefer isn’t your typical liberal lefty progressive and he would resent any attempt to label him I’m sure! He’s very prolific, always moving forward whilst still with an eye to the past; I think I read somewhere that he was in the list of Germany’s 100 richest people and families.
Thank you so much for your kind words. Very best wishes as ever to you and yours.
It's more a matter of infantilising reality, which is typical of you - contemporary painters. You generally are not able to use your consciousness in the act of perceiving light and contemplation... The old masters had this ability... And you guys become professional statement producers... Kiefer's paintings mostly don't appeal to me. In my opinion, he has nothing interesting to say about Nazism. And this large-scale gigantomachy is a bit grotesque... Well, maybe not as grotesque as that story about the books he masturbated to (embarrassing)... I wonder what he would say about such a rather realistic topic i.e. why the Jews forgave the Germans so quickly (financial reparations plus Project Samson: financing secret, nuclear weapons for Israel). Or why, in the context of World War II, the Germans still think of Poles not as victims but as subhumans (see the pathetic monument-stone erected only recently in Berlin to commemorate the 3 million ethnic Poles murdered by German Nazis)...
https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/artists-for-kamala?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=vf&utm_mailing=VF_CH_092624&utm_medium=email&bxid=61c3be5b291b0b0a731ec096&cndid=67801303&hasha=cb64af7a500765a0cafb72092fcabb00&hashb=8a3404d8db3619a87f4f0e4f89ba6b7fa178e4f0&hashc=6e3fd59922b208bab0eefad5f445f43d08d781b2b70ae1cce8d892bdb8c5f37a&esrc=growl2-regGate-0721&mbid=mbid%3DCRMVYF012019&source=EDT_VYF_NEWSLETTER_0_COCKTAIL_HOUR_ZZ&utm_campaign=VF_CH_092624&utm_term=VYF_Cocktail_Hour
Quite a list. Jeff Koons?
That's a roll call of terrible art.... Thanks for drawing my attention to it.
Anselm Kiefer is an intriguing artist for sure. The Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, and the National Gallery in Canberra here In Australia, hold some of his works. However, the most powerful piece of his work I’ve seen was ‘The Morgenthau Plan’ (in the Gagosian, Paris) years’ ago. The gallery was filled with a sculpture of a golden wheat field enclosed in a huge cage. The work referred, of course, to the Plan proposed by the US Treasury in 1944 to de-industrialise post-war Germany, effectively making it impossible for the country to ever wage war again.
It was a deeply moving piece to view, and I thought about it for long time thereafter. Kiefer has a belligerent determination to confront Germany’s history. I wonder what he thinks of Winston Churchill? Thank you so much for such an interesting analysis of Kiefer’s work.
I've seen a few displays of Kiefer's work and I've always got a lot out of it, even if much of it I found difficult or ugly. It's very thought provoking and even beautiful. Kiefer seems to be ambivalent on many of the topics you'd expect a liberal to be clear about. That suggests his political compass might be fairly complex.
In case anyone wants to read more on Kiefer and nationalism, you can find more in my book "Blood, Soil, Paint".
Thanks again for your consistently thoughtful comments, LoS. Wishing you and your family well.
Yes, Kiefer isn’t your typical liberal lefty progressive and he would resent any attempt to label him I’m sure! He’s very prolific, always moving forward whilst still with an eye to the past; I think I read somewhere that he was in the list of Germany’s 100 richest people and families.
Thank you so much for your kind words. Very best wishes as ever to you and yours.
It's more a matter of infantilising reality, which is typical of you - contemporary painters. You generally are not able to use your consciousness in the act of perceiving light and contemplation... The old masters had this ability... And you guys become professional statement producers... Kiefer's paintings mostly don't appeal to me. In my opinion, he has nothing interesting to say about Nazism. And this large-scale gigantomachy is a bit grotesque... Well, maybe not as grotesque as that story about the books he masturbated to (embarrassing)... I wonder what he would say about such a rather realistic topic i.e. why the Jews forgave the Germans so quickly (financial reparations plus Project Samson: financing secret, nuclear weapons for Israel). Or why, in the context of World War II, the Germans still think of Poles not as victims but as subhumans (see the pathetic monument-stone erected only recently in Berlin to commemorate the 3 million ethnic Poles murdered by German Nazis)...