- 334
Anselm Kiefer
Description
- Anselm Kiefer
- Grabmal
titled
oil, acrylic, shellac and sand on photographs laid down on cardboard
- 40 1/2 by 31 1/2 by 2 1/2 in.
- 102.9 by 80 by 6.5 cm.
- Executed in 1999.
Provenance
Acquired by the present owner from the above
Exhibited
Condition
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
Anselm Kiefer's art is larger than life. His paintings are often vast; his installations often occupy entire galleries in museums and can colonize entire buildings. His materials merely start with stretched canvases. They are composed of tar, concrete, steel and a variety of household and industrial detritus. His themes are equally vast and complex, encompassing German history, identity and the very nature of belief. Kiefer's primary mission in his work has been to articulate and atone for the crimes of his country's past and to reopen the debate about the German people's guilt during the Nazi era. Repeatedly traversing this bleak territory, Kiefer not only defines the scope of horrors of that era but provides a mechanism to move beyond them.
Throughout Kiefer's career, the book has been a central medium of his expression. He has literally opened up the parameters of what a book can become. The book can be oversized, as big as a house; its pages can stick together or fall to pieces; it can be read or its pages can be too large or fragile to turn.
The present volume is entitled Grabmal which is German for tomb, or grave marker. Within its pages are images of stacks of bricks and dilapidated ceremonial structures from ancient India, reminiscent of war ravaged buildings and the Nazi gas chambers. Both title and content refer us back to Kiefer's central obsession with identity and historical memory.
Kiefer's books, charred and distressed, also remind us of the ceremonial book-burnings that took place in Nazi Germany. Thousands of volumes by Jewish, communist or "degenerate" authors such as Franz Kafka, Sigmund Freud, and Albert Einstein were torched in massive bonfires around the country in a drive to create a "pure" German culture.
Large or small, Kiefer's books share a property of all printed material. Like a memory, they require care and attention if they are to be of use to us and if they are to be preserved for future generations.