Anselm Kiefer

Anselm Kiefer – Hitler salute as final thesis, encouragement from Joseph Beuys

Anselm Kiefer was born in Donaueschingen on 8 March 1945. His father, the art therapist Albert Kiefer, recognized and encouraged his son’s artistic talent from early on., teaching him the basic artistic techniques including linocuts, sand paintings, clay works, mosaic and wax crayon. Despite his pronounced enthusiasm for art, Anselm initially studied law and the Romantic, but after abandoning this, showed much more interest in the study of painting, firstly under Peter Dreher in Freiburg from 1966 to 1968, and then under Horst Antes in Karlsruhe. For his final thesis, Kiefer produced photographic documentation of an art performance which he called Besetzungen (Occupations) which consisted mainly of Hitler salutes performed by the artist in various towns in Europe. A great scandal erupted, the majority of professors were offended, and Kiefer had to continue his studies with Joseph Beuys, who was very taken with the artistic concepts of the young provocateur.

Scandal in Venice, victory parade through the USA

Anselm Kiefer worked initially in Odenwald as a freelance artist, finding an early supporter in the distinguished gallerist Michael Werner who exhibited his pictures. In 1980 he was awarded the chance to design the West German pavilion at the Biennale di Venezia, giving rise to further scandal with his works Wege der Weltweisheit and Deutschlands Geisteshelden. He blamed the renewed uproar and the massive criticism on the German public’s lack of understanding of the content and motivation of his work. His success, however, was not broken by the outrage, and further exhibitions in London and in particular the USA brought Anselm Kiefer worldwide fame and made him one of the most influential post-war German artists.  After the collapse of his planned art park project Zweistromland, in 1991 he left a process which he retrospectively described as “hygiene”. After a break of three years, he continued working in France and held lectures in the Collège de France.

Art as politics, questions about the past and present

In 2011, Anselm Kiefer wanted to transform a decommissioned nuclear power station into a pantheon for his works, but the project failed due to political objections. This artist is used to this type of dispute, for Anselm Kiefer’s art is always political, deals with history and writes history itself. At the same time, he does not shy away from drastic stagings, which in particular shaped his almost obsessive debate with the German past. Kiefer shows a milder side in his later phases where he deals primarily with mystical and religious motifs. Anselm Kiefer received prizes and awards for his art – he was, for example, the first visual artist to receive the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, and in 2009 he was awarded the Adenauer-de-Gaulle Prize. Since January 2018, Anselm Kiefer has also held Austrian citizenship.