WWW.KUMA.ART #KIEFER ANSELM KIEFER UNTIL 22/08/21 LEVEL HECTOR-BAU JUGENDSTIL-BAU EXHIBITION ROOM 1 ROOM 2 ROOM 3 THE GREAT IN THE HORTUS CARGO BEGINNING CONCLUSUS MULLEIN WOMEN OF PALM ATRIUM ANTIQUITY SUNDAY LILITH 20 YEARS BLACK PASSAGE MUTATULI OF FLAKES SATURN TIME SOLITUDE ENTRANCE SHEBIRAT HA KELIM CENSUS (LEVIATHAN) LUXX SEPHIROT The exhibition is accompanied by Visitors also have the opportunity an extensive supporting program. to engage with Kiefer’s oeuvre CUBE CUBE CUBE THE FERTILE 5 6 7 CRESCENT In several lectures in coopera- by attending readings, concerts, tion with the Jewish Community guided tours and artist’s talks. in Mannheim, among others, the One of the highlights of the suppor- Kunsthalle sheds light on the ting program is the symposium intercultural context of Kiefer’s “Concepts and Material in Anselm art. Kiefer’s Art” in spring of 2021. THE LOST The entire program in conjunction with the show can be found at: LETTER WWW.KUMA.ART/ANGEBOTE JAIPUR LEVEL DATES AND SPECIALS AT: WWW.KUMA.ART PROGRAM Anselm Kiefer is one of the most fa- change in direction of the Cold War and sculptures result in either The exhibition displaying large- mous contemporary German artists. and the demise of the Soviet Union, entirely abstract or figurative com- format, multidimensional pictures In his work which is characterized Kiefer turns against the “end of positions. Kiefer’s works are con- and sculptures focuses on three by heavy materiality, he engages history” and literally incorporates the temporary history paintings that important work phases, from early with existential issues. Politics, reli- cultural memory of the world in his critically reflect upon history, while pieces such as The Great Cargo gion, mysticism, myths, alchemy, work. His break with Germany and their emotional effects simulta- (1981/1996) with attached lead ob- INTRODUCTION and cosmology are sets of themes long journeys around the world mark neously tell stories. As a key mate- jects, to the multipart installation from which Anselm Kiefer creates a profound change in his artistic rial, Kiefer uses lead, for example, Palm Sunday (2007) centered around his paintings and sculptures. In four work. Since moving to France in 1993, to clad his picture supports and a palm tree, to the expansive sculp- rooms on two floors, the exhibition the artist has increasingly engaged to construct and attach models of ture The Lost Letter (2011–2017). brings together key groups of works with the connection between Jewish airplanes or ships. produced over the past 30 years and Christian religion, the myths Curator: Dr. Sebastian Baden based on loans from the Kiefer Col- and mystical teachings of world cul- Curatorial assistance: Antonella B. lection Grothe. tures and the media of remembrance. Meloni In regard to their dimensions, modes In addition to oil and acrylic, Kiefer of depiction and haptic qualities, typically uses organic materials Anselm Kiefer’s mostly large-format such as clay, ash, plaster, and plants works are meant to overwhelm the like sunflowers, ferns, tulips, or *1945 Donaueschingen 1987 MoMA, NYC viewer. Right after graduating from roses, as well as stuffed animals. He 1965 studies of law, Romance philo- 1990 Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin the Kunstakademie in Karlsruhe, furthermore uses lead, concrete, logy and linguistics at the Universität 2008 Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, the artist became known for aggres- wire, steel, glass, and found objects, Freiburg im Breisgau commissioned work for the Louvre, sively addressing the taboos of such as historical tools and devices. 1966–70 studies at the Kunstakade- Paris the German post-war period in his art The artist regularly inserts into mie Karlsruhe with Peter Dreher and KIEFER BIOGRAPHY ANSELM and showing the emotional turmoil his pictures, books and installations Horst Antes. Friendship with Joseph Awards of cultural identity in the face of the at times gigantic black-and-white Beuys 1990 Kaiserring Gosslar and Art Prize entanglement in historical guilt. photos which he shoots himself and 1971 work in the Odenwald, from of the Wolf Foundation, Jerusalem With his performance “Besatzungen” develops in his studio. 1988 in his studio in Höpfingen 1999 Praemium Imperiale of the which was documented in photos, 1993 move to Barjac/Frankreich Japan Art Association the artist critically marked the terrain Anselm Kiefer often exposes his art- 2007 move to Paris 2008 Peace Prize of the German Book of the international presence of works produced in elaborate work Trade fascism in Europe. Since then, coming processes to the elemental forces of International exhibitions (selection) 2010 Professor at the Collège de to terms with German history – wind, water and fire – or even to 1978 Kunsthalle Bern France, Paris from Germanic myths to coping with electrolysis – so that the patina of 1980 German Pavilion at the Venice 2011 Leo-Baeck-Medal for German- the National Socialist dictatorship – nature becomes visible on the Biennale (with Georg Baselitz) Jewish Reconciliation, NYC has played a pivotal role in Kiefer’s surfaces. The objects and materials 1984 Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville 2019 Prize for Understanding and work. Concurrently with the political joined together in his paintings de Paris and Israel Museum, Jerusalem Tolerance, Jewish Museum Berlin SHEBIRAT HA KELIM, 1990 1990 KELIM, HA SHEBIRAT On display in the atrium of the Kunst- according to Luria, a “shattering of But the theme is specific to the tradi- halle is the vertical-format work vessels” (Shevirat HaKeilim) occurred, tional “shattering of vessels,” sym- Sephirot which is characterized by gray so that the origin of the world was bolized by the shards of destruction. and earthy-brown wave reliefs made of shaped from the onset by a dishar- The crucial connection between lead plates. Kiefer created Sephirot mony demanding harmony. The path to writing and tradition as media of cul- along with several identical formats of harmony and thus to spiritual wis- tural memory comes to bear in this the Shevirat Ha Kelim cycle for an dom is structured by the ten vessels, work. A linen garment is applied to the SEPHIROT, 2000 SEPHIROT, exhibition in the chapel of the former which are simultaneously stations picture assembled from lead plates, Parisian psychiatric clinic “Hôpital of knowledge in the depiction of the its ten pockets filled with glass shards. de la Salpêtrière” where he set up a Tree of Life. Humans, understood The broken glass symbolizes the multipart installation. For this reason, as these vessels, are on the search for light of God emanated during the pro- ATRIUM the shape of the work conforms not wisdom and the reinstatement of cess of Creation. To create the only to the arches of the originally harmony (Tikkun), which they seek to world, omnipresent God (Hebrew: “Ein LEVEL 1 0 / ROOM sacred architecture but also to the for- reach through moral behavior. Sof,” The Infinite) had to withdraw mat of a panel painting as it might and emanated the light of life and wis- embellish a huge altar. Yet the picture Kiefer condenses his vision of the dom into the vacuum left behind. does not show any Christian iconogra- Creation of the world in this work, im- But the act of Creation did not succeed phy, but instead refers to the Jewish plementing in it the ten divine prin- without causing damage, for seven mysticism of the rabbi Isaac ben ciples, the different spheres of the of the ten vessels that should have re- Salomon Luria Ashkenazi (1534–1572), sefirot, in the form of inscribed The leaden picture Shebirat Ha Kelim ceived the light of God were shat- who ranks among the most significant lumps of earth, since the Tree of Life, marks an important work phase of tered. Therefore, the term “Shevirat theosophists and pioneers of the simultaneously representing the Anselm Kiefer at the end of the 1980s, HaKeilim” symbolically stands for a Kabbalah. Anselm Kiefer has been dea- collection of the sefirot, grows from the following the artist’s first visit to catastrophe. With their emanations, ling with the thinking and recorded earth (Malkuth). In Kiefer’s work, the Israel. He has since been engaging with the ten vessels, called “sefirot,” writings of the Lurianic Kabbalah since teachings of the sefirot are connected Jewish mysticism and the Kabbalah are meant to represent the harmony his first trip to Israel in 1983. The Kab- with the material and spiritual world. handed down by Isaac Luria. The depic- of the universe and thus God’s quali- balah that interests Kiefer is a positive The Lurianic Kabbalah today counts tion found here has been repeatedly ties. Because Creation under the mysticism with a spiritual dynamics as the most significant form of Jewish taken up by the artist in pictorial and power of the light began with a catas- oriented toward harmony and the cycle mysticism in Chassidic Judaism and sculptural variations. trophe, life is oriented toward the of beginning and end. due to its teaching of mutual help and recreation of the original perfection. shared responsibility it enjoys great This picture created in 1990 in his stu- The religious worldview of Luria is popularity. dio in Höpfingen clearly shows the based on a Kabbalistic conception of scheme of the sefirot from the Luria- the process of Creation, initiated nic Kabbalah that is so relevant for by the withdrawal of God, called “Zim- Kiefer. zum,” and the ensuing emergence of life from creative emptiness. But THE GREAT CARGO 1985–1995THE GREAT The extremely broad format of the the form of sunflowers and their tripartite picture The Great Cargo is seeds. With the plants, the cycle of dominated by an airplane body beginning and end, a leitmotif of hovering in front of the painting’s the artist, is applied to the picture.