Anselm Kiefer: Salt of the Earth Published by Skira. By Germano Celant. Over the past four decades, Anselm Kiefer has produced a diverse body of work in painting, sculpture, and installation that has made him among the most important artists of his generation. His subject matter includes sources as diverse as Teutonic mythology and history, alchemy, and the nature of belief, all depicted in a bewildering variety of materials, including oil paint, dirt, lead, models, photographs, woodcuts, sand, straw, and all manner of organic material. By adding found materials to the painted surface of his immense tableaux, he invents a compelling third space between painting and sculpture. With more than 400 color images of the artist’s works, this catalog presents works which have rarely shown in public and his most recent works. It includes critical essays, an interview with the artist, and a chronology detailing his long career.
Germano Celant was senior curator of contemporary art at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York from 1989 to 2008. Internationally known for his writings on Arte Povera, in 1987 he received the Frank Jewett Mather Award, the most prestigious American prize for art criticism. He has been a contributing editor at Artforum since 1977 and at Interview since 1991. |