Anselm Kiefer's Drawings at Met Museum Explore German History Through Landscape
Between March 24 and August 2, 2009, the Metropolitan Museum of Art presented around 30 pieces by Anselm Kiefer in the Gioconda and Joseph King Gallery, located within the Lila Acheson Wallace Wing. This exhibition featured early watercolors from 1969 to 1985, alongside works created in 2004. Kiefer's art, including the 1970 piece 'Everyone Stands Under His Own Dome Of Heaven,' delves into intricate themes like the Holocaust and German history. His 1971 creations, 'On Every Mountain Peak There Is Peace' and 'Reservoir,' draw from German landscape traditions. Kiefer's later works (1985–2004) incorporate altered photographs and lead, probing into national identity and trauma. The show implies that artists such as Mark Rothko might be more adept at addressing historical events.
Key facts
- Exhibition dates: March 24 to August 2, 2009
- Location: Lila Acheson Wallace Wing, The Gioconda and Joseph King Gallery, 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York City
- Approximately 30 small works by Anselm Kiefer shown
- Includes early watercolors from 1969–1985 and works as recent as 2004
- Kiefer stated in 2007: 'Americans think there is good and bad. That’s not true. The truth is wandering around.'
- Chancellor Helmut Kohl declared in 1983: 'Mythology, Germans and the forest – they all belong together.'
- Battle of Teutoburger Forest referenced, where Roman attack on Germainia was repelled in 9 AD
- Kiefer adopts shamanistic approach patterned from Joseph Beuys
Entities
Artists
- Anselm Kiefer
- C. D. Friedrich
- Joseph Beuys
- Mark Rothko
- Stefan George
- Bernini
Institutions
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Lila Acheson Wallace Wing
- The Gioconda and Joseph King Gallery
Locations
- New York City
- United States
- Germany
- Eastern Europe
- Germainia