Anselm Kiefer

Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London
Acquired from the above by the present owner in March 1988

This work is in very good condition overall. Please contact the Contemporary Department at (212) 606-7254 for a professional condition report prepared by Alan Firkser of Paper Conservation Studio, Inc. Framed under glass.
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.

"I studied Third Reich art in secondhand bookstores and absorbed a lot of information that had come out in the 1930s...But I never found any interesting official painting. However, the architecture is quite interesting. People like Speer and Kreis made interesting things...I was intrigued by these buildings, and I wanted to transform them. You know, normally you don't destroy buildings...usually you transform them, like the Christians transformed old temples or the Pantheon into Christian churches. That's what I was doing, too. I transformed those old buildings and gave them a new destiny, a new meaning. Because you never succeed in really destroying something, it always lives, and it's more efficient to transform than to destroy."

Anselm Kiefer in Exh. Cat., New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Anselm Kiefer: Works on Paper in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1998, pp. 101-102