Anselm Kiefer’s Germany, Covered in Dust | A Closer Look
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Join Lauren Richman, William and Sarah Ross Soter Curator of Photography, as she uncovers Anselm Kiefer’s renderings of German cities in a book of photo collages.
Heroic and operatically scaled projects and organic materials like mud, molten lead, and straw, have been major components of Anselm Kiefer’s practice for decades. In Jesaia, he adheres sand and ash to the surfaces of aerial photographs, calling to mind radioactive fallout and the eternal battle between nature and civilization. The title references a bible verse that is often adopted to describe the layered historical complexities of Kiefer’s birthplace: Berlin. Bringing the past to life, and coming to terms with German history, literature, and art history, especially the legacy of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, is a perpetual theme in Kiefer’s work.