New View Of Anselm Kiefer, A Love Letter To Women

We look, we stare, we ponder, but do we ever question? We see it so often that we may not even truly record consciously what we are seeing. Yet there is no question that the female form is a work of art, and even less of a secret that many painters have historically made women the focal point of their work. We associate the works of many male painters with the female form. And yet, those familiar with his work may not immediately associate ‘women’ with the artist ‘Kiefer’. Although most well-known for his use of dark, historical themes and mythology, the feminine is intimately woven into his work. Anselm Kiefer is an artist fascinated by strong female figures. Womanhood to him is an emblem of strength, of beauty and of rebellion. Explore New View Of Anselm Kiefer, A Love Letter To Women.

Why Artists Paint Women

Artists have been fascinated by women throughout the centuries for myriad reasons. Many note the pleasantry of painting curves, while others have perceived the female beauty as the aesthetic epitome. There is also the male gaze. Historically, art that gained the most attention was by male artists, and therefore their subject stems from the captivation by the opposite sex. From Sandro Botticelli’s ‘The Birth of Venus’ with the nude Aphrodite as the focal point, to Andy Warhol’s ‘Marilyn Diptych’, men have made women their muses since the beginning of time.

In the case of artist Anselm Kiefer, however, the artwork many associate with him concerns how we can exist in the present despite the atrocities of the past. As a German artist, this often means a confrontation with Germany’s Nazi past; he is fascinated by the intersection of memory and the present.

Amidst this exploration exists a strong presence of matriarchal figures to whom Kiefer has looked up for years. Of course, this includes the women who have historically been the centrepoints of art, the Virgin Mary and her antithesis, Lilith. Petra Giloy-Hirtz’s new exciting book ‘Anselm Kiefer: The Women’ explores this in depth.

Anselm Kiefer, Les Reines de France (Queens of France), 1998

Photo Courtesy Of Atelier Anselm Kiefer © Anselm Kiefer

Mary And The Mystery Of The Triple Virgin

One of the most central women to Kiefer, both in his art and from childhood, is the Virgin Mary. If you’re wondering how significant she really is… well, Kiefer has previously done an entire exhibition dedicated to her in Thaddeus Ropac, Salzburg, in 2008, entitled ‘Maria Walks Amid the Thorn’. Kiefer has long contemplated Mary’s virginity being maintained throughout the stages of before, during, and after birth. Mary is central to the birth of Jesus, and yet her existence remains an enigma.

Anselm Kiefer, Maria, 1978–2008

Photo Courtesy Of Atelier Anselm Kiefer © Anselm Kiefer

The paintings dedicated to the mother of Jesus are a complex take on highly sensual and tactile surfaces. Kiefer combines classic artistic materials like oil with more experimental, textural elements, such as metal and flowers. The result is a contemporary take on the Saint’s grandeur and mystery. Kiefer is fascinated by how little is known about Mary, a woman who exists between the two worlds: divine yet human. The artist himself grew up catholic, and remembers childly aspirations of becoming a Pope.

‘For me, Mary is like a land I grew up in, like a land that I once visited and travelled to. For me, it is a memory that I can revisit.’

Anselm Kiefer

Lilith, Name Of A Rebel
Anselm Kiefer’s art is enamoured by strong, rebellious female characters. And if we look to the very start, the first woman, one who came before Eve, was precisely that. Lilith, created from the same Earth as Adam, refused to be sexually subservient, seeing no reason why only he could be on top, given they were made to be equals. She fled the Garden of Eden to the edge of the Red Sea. Three angels were sent to bring her back, but the self-determined Lilith refused, and as punishment, she was condemned to see the daily death of her one hundred demonic children.

In various mythologies, she is classed as a demon, living in a city of ruins with ominous creatures. Kiefer empathises with her fate and the strength she wears like armour. In his artwork ‘Lilith’ (1990), he creates a city of refuge for her.

Anselm Kiefer, Lilith, 1987–1990

Photo Courtesy Of Atelier Anselm Kiefer © Anselm Kiefer

Taking inspiration from the topography of São Paulo, he layers copper wire and ash or coal over oil, as well as strands of hair and poppies, all the materials symbols of feminine power. The artwork is a city in which Lilith can find relief, breathing away from the torturous fate of sacrificing her children as the only way to freedom from patriarchy.

What Does Femininity Mean To Kiefer

Anselm Kiefer breaks boundaries and explores the power of femininity not just in his art, but in the bending of his own gender identity. Like Mary, he shifts between two worlds, the masculine and the feminine.

‘Nevertheless, I have always dreamed of the impossible: once I wanted to be an archbishop, a woman, or a pope. […] And in general, I see almost as many feminine parts in me as masculine.’

Anselm Kiefer

Anselm Kiefer, studio Karlsruhe, 1969

Photo Courtesy Of Atelier Anselm Kiefer © Anselm Kiefer

In the artist book he created for the French novelist and playwright Jean Genet in 1969, he includes various self-portraits of himself in a crocheted dress and white nightshirt. Exploring the transformation and breaking gender barriers, Kiefer is fascinated by womanhood. He is interested in putting it on and seeing how it may fit into his own idea of self.

Women In Art: Always Present

As an artist rooted in unpicking problematic history, this inquiry into sexual identity is a protest against oppression in itself. In giving Lilith a home amongst the cityscape of São Paulo, or in paying Mary an homage as a figure of her own, rather than just a mother of Jesus, Kiefer points to the true essence of a prominent woman.

In answering the question of why male artists have long been interested in painting women, another brow-raiser comes up: how many female artists can one name at all? Is it that only men have painted women, or that women who did too were simply put under the radar?

‘When Kiefer fights blatantly and annoyingly against forgetting and for enlightenment, this includes women in equal measure.’

Petra Giloy-Hirtz

What Kiefer’s work and Giloy-Hirtz’s new perspective on it provide is a reminder of the omnipresence of femininity, of beauty and inspiration that comes with it. In art, in life, as figures to look up to and stories to empathise with. The women of Anselm Kiefer are figures of strength, and this new book is an invitation to take a fresh look at the legendary painter and sculptor.

To buy a copy of Petra Giloy-Hirtz’s ‘Anselm Kiefer: The Women’, visit Here.

If you enjoyed reading ‘New View Of Anselm Kiefer, A Love Letter To Women’, why not try ‘Jean Prouvé: Genius Architecture With Love and Humanity In Mind‘?

.Cent Magazine, London; Luxury Mindset