Today I was lucky enough to spend a little sojourn to Carlisle, to see the Anselm Kiefer exhibition to gether with an explanation of the works by local artist and curator, Mark Gibbs. This lecture, sponsored by "Artists Rooms" (www.artistsrooms.org), http://www.artistrooms.org/exhibitions/anselmkiefer-tulliehousemuseumandgallery
(Please see http://www.artistrooms.org/galleries/anselmkiefer# for more images, hereby acknowledged as source for the works shown for my personal research hereunder).
The first works on entry to the exhibition were four early photographs, from a series of some 190 all entitled "Heroic Symbols"...
These four photographs were taken by Kiefer shortly after graduating from Art College in Germany and were met by an extremely critical and scathing German public when first exhibited. Especially poigniant here is to remember that at this time, (1969), Germany was split into the two halves of the Federal Republic of Germany in the West, and the Eastern (under communist rule and highly influenced by Russia) as the Socialist, "Democratic Republic of East Germany".
Much of the influence of the series was for Kiefer to refer to "The Occupations" as a statement, in context, during 1969. Kiefer's Nazi salutes in various poses were all taken in different locations that had been occupied by Germany during WW2. The obvious connections with Casper David Friedrich (discussed in more detail in an earlier blog on this site), which alludes to 'the lone German hero' of a more considered 'romantic' period of an earlier german history, shows how this notion of heroism can be perverted. What I mean here, is that the 1888 rise of German Nationalism that Casper David Friedrich was exploiting (as a result of the post-Waterloo and Napoleon-esk images), is what Kiefer is particularly referring to here.
Until properly explained by Mark Gibbs, I didn't understand until today, that it's about the Iron object of Jewelry, and the subsequent use of Iron within the 'Iron Cross' used by the Nazi command to bestow for merit in the second world war.
Kiefer had definately been influenced by one of his teachers, Joseph Bueys, who, during the 1950s, propagated what seems now to be a complete myth, that he crashed in his aircraft in the Crimea, during the war (he was actually a Radio Operator and Rear Gunner according to the official records) and was captured by Tribesmen from the Russian Steppes (Tartars) who allegedly kept him alive through wrapping him in a felt blanket and keeping him alive by covering himself with, and eating just Lard / Animal fats. (When he was 'rescued, there were no signs of any tartars in the village he was being held at). It later transpired that this is much more than extremely unlikely!
Bueys famously performed a piece of art "I like America and America likes me", in which on arrival in the US, he was taken by ambulance to the gallery space, which was an enclosed room with glass viewing, whilst wrapped in felt and lard, and lived in it together with a North American Coyote for three days!... This was an allusion to him wanting to appear as a Shamen, someone in a liminal space between life and death, in order to engage the spectator. When the three days where up, amazingly, the Coyote hadn't eaten him (Bueys did have a large shepherd's crook with him to defend himself), and in fact had grown quite tolerant of him. So much so that at the end of the time, Bueys was able to put his arms around it!...
In a similar way here, Anselm Kiefer is inMark Gibbs opinion, trying to create a Shamenistic position, whereby he himself is taking all the suffering on behalf of the people. Expanded more fully, what Kiefer is actually doing, is taking on "the illness" of the German people, as a Shamen, in order to cure it.
In the same way, in"Occupations" this is why he is actually dressed like a Shamen, - he holds a branch of a tree.
What's really deeply intellectual, is that he points out the yin and the yang of work, but the first point which appears as important, is, in fact, un-important. Indeed, it is the minutiae, (what appears as un-important), which is actually the important point!...
So occupations, is really about Iron, but also, consider the medium that Kiefer is using. It is firm and photography. at that time this was dependent (pre-digital of course) on Silver-Nitrate. Therefore Occupations = Iron & Silver.
There are so many of these series that I'm not totally sure that the images above are the exact same images used for the exhibition, however, they have been selected as closely as I could find!
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The next picture, which was under scrutiny is entitled "Pallet (2006)".
This painting or piece is made up from ash, straw and hay. The concept being courted with is that "value versus no value" at all is in constant tension. It’s a kind of distinction between the yin and the yang. Anselm Kiefer has derived this from Goethes myth, where the character Margarete, who was a blonde heroine (hence the reference to gold in her hair), together with the writings of Paul Cellan (who was born in the Ukraine, being of Jewish and Rumanian, together with German origin), who wrote a book called Todiche Fugue (the death Fugue).
(Please see http://www.artistrooms.org/galleries/anselmkiefer# for more images, hereby acknowledged as source for the works shown for my personal research hereunder).
The first works on entry to the exhibition were four early photographs, from a series of some 190 all entitled "Heroic Symbols"...
Much of the influence of the series was for Kiefer to refer to "The Occupations" as a statement, in context, during 1969. Kiefer's Nazi salutes in various poses were all taken in different locations that had been occupied by Germany during WW2. The obvious connections with Casper David Friedrich (discussed in more detail in an earlier blog on this site), which alludes to 'the lone German hero' of a more considered 'romantic' period of an earlier german history, shows how this notion of heroism can be perverted. What I mean here, is that the 1888 rise of German Nationalism that Casper David Friedrich was exploiting (as a result of the post-Waterloo and Napoleon-esk images), is what Kiefer is particularly referring to here. Until properly explained by Mark Gibbs, I didn't understand until today, that it's about the Iron object of Jewelry, and the subsequent use of Iron within the 'Iron Cross' used by the Nazi command to bestow for merit in the second world war.
Kiefer had definately been influenced by one of his teachers, Joseph Bueys, who, during the 1950s, propagated what seems now to be a complete myth, that he crashed in his aircraft in the Crimea, during the war (he was actually a Radio Operator and Rear Gunner according to the official records) and was captured by Tribesmen from the Russian Steppes (Tartars) who allegedly kept him alive through wrapping him in a felt blanket and keeping him alive by covering himself with, and eating just Lard / Animal fats. (When he was 'rescued, there were no signs of any tartars in the village he was being held at). It later transpired that this is much more than extremely unlikely!
Bueys famously performed a piece of art "I like America and America likes me", in which on arrival in the US, he was taken by ambulance to the gallery space, which was an enclosed room with glass viewing, whilst wrapped in felt and lard, and lived in it together with a North American Coyote for three days!... This was an allusion to him wanting to appear as a Shamen, someone in a liminal space between life and death, in order to engage the spectator. When the three days where up, amazingly, the Coyote hadn't eaten him (Bueys did have a large shepherd's crook with him to defend himself), and in fact had grown quite tolerant of him. So much so that at the end of the time, Bueys was able to put his arms around it!...
In the same way, in"Occupations" this is why he is actually dressed like a Shamen, - he holds a branch of a tree.
What's really deeply intellectual, is that he points out the yin and the yang of work, but the first point which appears as important, is, in fact, un-important. Indeed, it is the minutiae, (what appears as un-important), which is actually the important point!...
There are so many of these series that I'm not totally sure that the images above are the exact same images used for the exhibition, however, they have been selected as closely as I could find!
------------------------------
The next picture, which was under scrutiny is entitled "Pallet (2006)".
This painting or piece is made up from ash, straw and hay. The concept being courted with is that "value versus no value" at all is in constant tension. It’s a kind of distinction between the yin and the yang. Anselm Kiefer has derived this from Goethes myth, where the character Margarete, who was a blonde heroine (hence the reference to gold in her hair), together with the writings of Paul Cellan (who was born in the Ukraine, being of Jewish and Rumanian, together with German origin), who wrote a book called Todiche Fugue (the death Fugue).
Black milk of morning we drink you at night
we drink you at noontime Death is a gang-boss aus Deutschland
we drink you at dusktime and dawntime
we drink and drink Death is a gang-boss aus Deutschland his eye is blue
he shoots you with leaden bullets his aim is true
there’s a man in this house your golden hair Margareta
he sets his dogs on our trail he gives us a grave in the sky
he cultivates snakes and he dreams Death is a gang-boss aus Deutschland
your golden hair Margareta
your ashen hair Shulamite
—the final lines of Paul Celan's poem, "Death Fugue," published 1947 (trans. Jerome Rothenberg)
Furthermore, Paul Cellan was one of the founders of the activists, the 47 group, established in Paris after the Holocaust. This painting, therefore, is of the dilemma of artists and their ideas post the Holocaust.
In the next painting, - this is called “the Heart” (2006),
and actually refers to the heart of the artist. In alchemy terms the heart has been turned into something precious by making it covered in gold leaf. However, the actual objects are made of clay and the reference therefore is much deeper about Earth itself. Also, you may notice there is a piece of seaweed, this has an allusion to salt, pure and white, but also sea water has a reference to human blood. All of these similarities, all of which are very symbolic of alchemy and when put together, it is very much in an alchemists’ sense that we put them as iron, silver, gold, straw, ash, clay and earth.
Kiefer then moves on to another symbolic element, the next series being that of water. The character “Amphetax” was a hero in the Holy Grail series, who was wounded. Within this piece Kiefer is associating to say that the land is wounded, and an allusion to this is that both the next pictures have a wheelchair as a very symbolic part of reference for wounded of them.
In all of these preceding works, the narrative is built by the viewer. What Anselm Kiefer is driving at, and what he wants is to create mystery and not meaning.
Having discussed at length already, the approach that Kiefer has towards shamanism and Alchemy, a further series to be considered, that he has been involved with for many years, is the substantial use of lead in his art works. This is very much an allusion of lead being an extremely heavy metal, and so alludes to the weight of our own guilt is not enough to hold the heavy burden of human history. Interestingly, much of the lead that Kiefer has acquired over the years has come from the Cologne Cathedral in Germany.
His regular use of lead in for example the photographic collage of the lead books together with cast dead sunflowers, (which are again a regular reference in many of his works) is, in my opinion all about his own reference to the heavy burden of guilt of the German nation.
The next piece in the exhibition is entitled “Aurora” (2014), (In the cabinet to the left of the photo below),
and is a composition placed horizontally in a cabinet, of a rusty submarine lying on its side, but placed on a bed which appears to be of dead roses, together with flower sticks. This is an allusion to the Pathos of obsolescence of the objects, and so Kiefer has made all this placed on a foundation bed made of lead. The submarine or U-boat resting on its side in itself is a symbolism all about grief, a national grief. This was “suffocated” grief that cannot be expressed by those who have been hurt, hence the U-boat, or under water / drowned notion.
Within all Anselm Kiefer’s works, again the ideas of loss, memory and grief are extremely strong.
The boat, the Dresden, which is also placed on a plinth was the only surviving boat from a small battle (thought to be the battle of Canals in the Falklands). The United Kingdom ships HMS Creasy, Monmouth and Good-Hope were all involved in this battle as part of the operation of the coast of Chile.
Going back to the piece’s title “Aurora (2014)”, it is in direct reference to the ‘Goddess of Dawn’. Also, sometimes known as the Rose of Dawn. In other words, this is the reason why Kiefer is spread the boat onto a bed of dead roses.
(By the way, under deeper contemporary cultural examination, there is a political group called “The Rising dawn”, which is a neofascist group, that are currently rising in power in Greece at the moment).
Worth mentioning here is that currently on display in London at the Maritime Museum, Anselm Kiefer is also displaying works entitled “the new theory of war”, which is actually a set of suspended submarines within the courtyard. This can be linked to Anselm Kiefer’s interest of the Kabbalah and particularly the number 317, and how crazy theories can get credence.
To the right of Aurora, the huge painting on the back wall of the exhibition in Carlisle is entitled “the Norns” (1983), which is a reference to the Norse mythology of Urd, Verdandi, Skuld (collectively, the Norns). This piece looks like a huge cathedral like cavern somewhere under the ground, an allusion, perhaps to the funeral hall of the great German soldiers (This painting is based on a 1939 design by Wilhelm Kreis, for the Funeral Hall for the Great German Soldiers, in the Hall of Soldiers).... But it is also a sort of allegory to the Catholic Church. (See the first Renaissance picture of perspective by Versace, of the Holy Spirit the Son and the Holy Ghost. Within this painting, Kiefer has also indicated what also appear to be tree roots coming from the roof of the vaulted structure. Is this a reference to it being buried under the ground? Or is it because it’s buried under the tree of knowledge, the Norse ash tree of knowledge, also, known as Yggdrasil? An earlier work is shown below to illustrate the version on exhibition show...
In all his pieces, There is in fact a limitation of materials, in such that when he has put them together they create many more meanings, far in excess of the whole.
Then finally in the smallest piece in the exhibition, and I think the final piece itself, entitled “the game is over.” (2014). Kiefer has put a single sunflower within a glass cabinet, and the symbology has been created because the sunflowers stalk is broken in the middle of it, but within it, is an iron hinge, linking the flower and its’ stalk to the base of the stock of the plant. This is displayed horizontally rather than on the wall, but it also has a white canvas base (painted with white acrylic), and is displayed together with what appeared to be volcanic rocks also scattered within the cabinet, together with some German writing,
“Das’s spiel ist aus von valien vailen steinen sind moasser fuss so wund. Einer hielt, mit dem woollen wir springen”.
Translated, this would read as “That 's easy to play from Valien vailen stones are moasser feet so sore . One held , with which we jump woolen”.
In the next painting, - this is called “the Heart” (2006),
Kiefer then moves on to another symbolic element, the next series being that of water. The character “Amphetax” was a hero in the Holy Grail series, who was wounded. Within this piece Kiefer is associating to say that the land is wounded, and an allusion to this is that both the next pictures have a wheelchair as a very symbolic part of reference for wounded of them.
In all of these preceding works, the narrative is built by the viewer. What Anselm Kiefer is driving at, and what he wants is to create mystery and not meaning.
Having discussed at length already, the approach that Kiefer has towards shamanism and Alchemy, a further series to be considered, that he has been involved with for many years, is the substantial use of lead in his art works. This is very much an allusion of lead being an extremely heavy metal, and so alludes to the weight of our own guilt is not enough to hold the heavy burden of human history. Interestingly, much of the lead that Kiefer has acquired over the years has come from the Cologne Cathedral in Germany.
His regular use of lead in for example the photographic collage of the lead books together with cast dead sunflowers, (which are again a regular reference in many of his works) is, in my opinion all about his own reference to the heavy burden of guilt of the German nation.
The next piece in the exhibition is entitled “Aurora” (2014), (In the cabinet to the left of the photo below),
Within all Anselm Kiefer’s works, again the ideas of loss, memory and grief are extremely strong.
The boat, the Dresden, which is also placed on a plinth was the only surviving boat from a small battle (thought to be the battle of Canals in the Falklands). The United Kingdom ships HMS Creasy, Monmouth and Good-Hope were all involved in this battle as part of the operation of the coast of Chile.
Going back to the piece’s title “Aurora (2014)”, it is in direct reference to the ‘Goddess of Dawn’. Also, sometimes known as the Rose of Dawn. In other words, this is the reason why Kiefer is spread the boat onto a bed of dead roses.
(By the way, under deeper contemporary cultural examination, there is a political group called “The Rising dawn”, which is a neofascist group, that are currently rising in power in Greece at the moment).
Worth mentioning here is that currently on display in London at the Maritime Museum, Anselm Kiefer is also displaying works entitled “the new theory of war”, which is actually a set of suspended submarines within the courtyard. This can be linked to Anselm Kiefer’s interest of the Kabbalah and particularly the number 317, and how crazy theories can get credence.
To the right of Aurora, the huge painting on the back wall of the exhibition in Carlisle is entitled “the Norns” (1983), which is a reference to the Norse mythology of Urd, Verdandi, Skuld (collectively, the Norns). This piece looks like a huge cathedral like cavern somewhere under the ground, an allusion, perhaps to the funeral hall of the great German soldiers (This painting is based on a 1939 design by Wilhelm Kreis, for the Funeral Hall for the Great German Soldiers, in the Hall of Soldiers).... But it is also a sort of allegory to the Catholic Church. (See the first Renaissance picture of perspective by Versace, of the Holy Spirit the Son and the Holy Ghost. Within this painting, Kiefer has also indicated what also appear to be tree roots coming from the roof of the vaulted structure. Is this a reference to it being buried under the ground? Or is it because it’s buried under the tree of knowledge, the Norse ash tree of knowledge, also, known as Yggdrasil? An earlier work is shown below to illustrate the version on exhibition show...
In all his pieces, There is in fact a limitation of materials, in such that when he has put them together they create many more meanings, far in excess of the whole.
Then finally in the smallest piece in the exhibition, and I think the final piece itself, entitled “the game is over.” (2014). Kiefer has put a single sunflower within a glass cabinet, and the symbology has been created because the sunflowers stalk is broken in the middle of it, but within it, is an iron hinge, linking the flower and its’ stalk to the base of the stock of the plant. This is displayed horizontally rather than on the wall, but it also has a white canvas base (painted with white acrylic), and is displayed together with what appeared to be volcanic rocks also scattered within the cabinet, together with some German writing,
“Das’s spiel ist aus von valien vailen steinen sind moasser fuss so wund. Einer hielt, mit dem woollen wir springen”.
Translated, this would read as “That 's easy to play from Valien vailen stones are moasser feet so sore . One held , with which we jump woolen”.
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