Editing Anselm Kiefer (section)

{{Short description|German painter and sculptor (born 1945)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = Anselm Kiefer
| image = 
| caption = 
| birth_name = 
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1945|3|8}}
| birth_place = [[Donaueschingen]], Germany
| death_date = 
| death_place = 
| nationality = German, [[Austria]]n
| field = Painting, Sculpture, Mixed media
| spouse = {{marriage|Monika Kiefer|<!--unknown-->|<!--unknown-->|end=div}}<ref name="Marx 1992 e575">{{cite news | last=Marx | first=Katja | title=Plötzlich ist das Geld wie ein Geschwür | website=[[Die Zeit]] | date=21 February 1992 | url=https://www.zeit.de/1992/09/ploetzlich-ist-das-geld-wie-ein-geschwuer | language=de | access-date=21 December 2023}}</ref>{{marriage|Renate Graf|<!--unknown-->|2014|end=div}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://artinwords.de/anselm-kiefer-biografie/|title=Anselm Kiefer: Biographie'|date=10 October 2009|publisher=ARTinWORDS.de|access-date=20 April 2019}}</ref>
| children = 5
| works = ''The Hierarchy of Angels'' (painting)<br />''The Secret Life of Plants'' (sculpture)<br />''Grane'' (woodcut)
| influenced = 
| awards = [[Praemium Imperiale]]
}}
[[Image:'Grane' by Anselm Kiefer. Woodcut with paint and collage on paper mounted on linin, Museum of Modern Art (New York City).jpg|thumb|right|''Grane'' (1980-1993), Woodcut with paint and collage on paper mounted on linen, [[Museum of Modern Art]], New York<ref>[https://www.moma.org/collection/works/61992 Museum of Modern Art]</ref>]]

'''Anselm Kiefer''' (born 8 March 1945) is a German painter and sculptor. He studied with [[Peter Dreher]] and [[Horst Antes]] at the end of the 1960s. His works incorporate materials such as [[straw]], [[wiktionary:ash|ash]], [[clay]], lead, and [[shellac]]. The poems of [[Paul Celan]] have played a role in developing Kiefer's themes of German history and the horrors of [[the Holocaust]], as have the spiritual concepts of [[Kabbalah]].

In his entire body of work, Kiefer argues with the past and addresses [[taboo]] and controversial issues from recent history. Themes from [[Nazi Germany|Nazi rule]] are particularly reflected in his work; for instance, the painting ''Margarete'' (oil and straw on canvas) was inspired by Celan's well-known poem "[[Todesfuge]]" ("Death Fugue").

His works are characterised by an unflinching willingness to confront his culture's dark past, and unrealised potential, in works that are often done on a large, confrontational scale well suited to the subjects. It is also characteristic of his work to find signatures and names of people of historical importance, legendary figures or historical places. All of these are encoded [[Sigil (magic)|sigils]] through which Kiefer seeks to process the past; this has resulted in his work being linked with the movements ''New Symbolism'' and ''Neo–Expressionism''.<ref name=big>''Big Questions'', [[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]], September 2006, p. 33</ref>

Kiefer has lived and worked in France since 1992. Since 2008, he has lived and worked primarily in Paris.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://whitecube.qi-cms.com/media/_file/artist_cv/anselm-kiefer-cv.pdf|title=Artist – White Cube|first=White|last=Cube|access-date=18 June 2016}}</ref> In 2018, he was awarded Austrian citizenship.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://salzburg.orf.at/news/stories/2891139/|title=Anselm Kiefer österreichischer Staatsbürger|date=23 January 2018|website=salzburg.orf.at|language=de|access-date=18 February 2019}}</ref>