K IS FOR ANSELM KEIFER, THE A TO Z’S OF ART!

Anselm Keifer, Women of Antiquity

Anselm Keifer is one of my favorite living artists.  Born in Germany in 1945, he studied with Joseph Beuys during the 1970s.  Frequently using things such as straw, ash, clay, lead, cement and shellac in his works, he creates textures that I love!   He frequently uses themes that revolve around German history and the horrors of the holocaust.

Anselm Keifer, Women of Antiquity

 

The above photograph is from his series Women of Antiquity.  This addresses the unfair treatment of women in many mythologies, particularly strong women who were often persecuted and usually murdered. The figure in the forefrunt is the poet Myrtis, represented by replacing her head with a lead book, possibly symbolizing the weight of knowledge.  Next is Hypatia, a philosopher and mathematician, represented by a glass geometric shape, an homage to Albrecht Durer’s famous engraving of a Melancholia as a damaged cube.  The last figure is Candidia, a Roman witch known for weaving vipers into her hair.  Keifer has replaced the vipers with rusted razor wire.  Don’t you just love the symbolizm?

The sculptures are made of bronze giving them a sense of strength.  But by making them look so fragile, they also manage to seem vulnerable. 

I included the painting below because – well because I just love his work!

Anselm Keifer, The Milky Way, 1985-87

2 thoughts on “K IS FOR ANSELM KEIFER, THE A TO Z’S OF ART!

  1. Sue

    Thanks for the art lesson here! Very interesting.. I love the shapes that are created here, I just wish I could see them up closer to see the detail. Thanks for sharing!

  2. vickiemartin Post author

    i would like to see them closer too – i loved them. I have to pay homage to his piece in the contemporary section of the High every time I go there – i love the texture – and somehow he is a friend of mine on facebook – but he’s very quiet

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