Anselm Kiefer

Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg
Acquired by the present owner from the above in 2009

Salzburg, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Anselm Kiefer: Maria durch ein Dornwald ging (Maria Walks Amid the Thorn), July - September 2008, pp. 40-41, illustrated in color

This work is in very good condition overall. There is evidence of craquelure throughout the piece, as well as areas of paint loss along the edges of the canvas, all of which are expected and inherent given the medium of the work, think impasto and the artist's working method. This work has not been viewed under Ultraviolet light. Unframed.
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“Mary is for me like a land where I grew up, a land that I once visited, to which I once travelled. It is for me a memory which I can recall. Regarding fertility and creativity, all that, regarding the seasonal cycle too, I have pictures and sensations at the levels of all sense… Think of the Ave Maria, this prayer is placed between birth and death... Both poles of human life are named in this prayer. Birth and death, sin and salvation, and intercession.” Anselm Kiefer, 2008

In 2008, Anselm Kiefer unveiled a new cycle of works that focuses on the biblical figure of the Virgin Mary. The group of roughly thirty paintings and one sculpture was presented to the public in a highly-anticipated solo exhibition at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Salzburg titled Maria durch ein Dornwald ging [Maria walks amid the Thorn] – a German Advent and Christmas carol about the Virgin Mary which has been popular for over a century. Most paintings in this extensive group were fabricated in 2007/08, however the present piece is an immaculate exception in that it was started in the 1970s and completed over a number of months throughout the decades.

In Maria durch ein Dornwald ging, the focus of attention has been placed on the Christian religion and the iconography of the divine, a theme central to Anselm Kiefer’s philosophical concerns as well as artistic output for many years. In this body of works, elements that usually dominate the artist’s compositions such as landscapes and lakes are replaced with dramatic sites of mythological scenes including the assumption of the blessed Virgin Mary, the birth of Virgin Mary and the Holy House of Loreto, the invocation of the Virgin Mary through the Litany of Loreto and the Hail Mary prayer, and the appearance of God in the burning bush. In the present painting which deals with the descent of Mary on the third day, as evident in the title Maria descendant le 3ème jour, the oversized composition is dominated by a set of majestic wings set against an abstract expanse of thick impasto. The astonishing layers of media and pigment, voluminous yet delicate, are iconic of the artist’s distinctive sedimenthing working method and a true testament of his artistic prowess. Kiefer’s approach is a fine balance between figuration and abstraction, and the result is a mesmerizing paradoxical canvas that hovers between emptiness and fullness. For over thirty years, Kiefer’s oeuvre has been characterized by a process of sedimentation, crossing, and reworking of themes, motifs and constellations that reappear time and again in very different media and formats. As academic Daniel Arasse noted in 2001, “The more one becomes familiar with his work and the better one knows it, the more one gets the feeling of dealing with a kind of labyrinth that gradually grows in size and complexity.”