"Anselm Kiefer: Painting, Sculpture, Woodcuts, Books"
2001-04-10 until 2001-07-08
Smart Museum of Art
Chicago, IL, USA United States of America

Anselm Kiefer (b. 1945) is perhaps best known for majestic paintings from the 1980s and early 1990s that evoked Germany's contested history through charred landscapes and mythic symbolism. This exhibition, drawn from the Manilow collection, uses a few choice works to call attention to other aspects of Kiefer's practice. Two works signal the artist's most recent preoccupations: Katarina (1999) from a grand series of sculptures about women of antiquity, and the monumental, meditative Lichtfalle (1999), one of several recent celestial-themed paintings.

Grab der Unbekannten Malers (1982) is one of many large-scale unique woodcuts by Kiefer, an important medium because of its specifically Germanic connections and for the ease with which it has allowed Kiefer to rework imagery and ideas in various contexts. Finally, the artist's books Hermannschlacht (1976), Gilgamesh and Enkidu in the Cedar Forest IV (1981); and Schweres Water (1991) mark the early and ongoing importance of books within Kiefer's oeuvre. Smart Museum lobby and Joel E. and Carole Bernstein Gallery

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for the State of Illinois

Other Important Exhibitions in Chicago