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Exposition Anselm Kiefer

Exposition Anselm Kiefer
Livres et xylographies

From 8 February to 12 May 2019

The Siegfried Line (détail), 1982-2013 © Anselm Kiefer
Graphisme : Karen Ichters

Introduction

The German artist Anselm Kiefer (*1945, Donaueschingen) long hesitated between two practices, writing and painting. Although it was the latter he eventually chose, literature continues to play a preponderant role in his body of work. Through their materiality and esthetic, books were the first support for his artmaking, and writing every day in a journal has enabled the artist to reflect on his work and to engage in research that is closely connected with his thinking.

Territoires et peuples de notre temps, 1976 | Photo © Georges Poncet

Territoires et peuples de notre temps, 1976 | Photo © Georges Poncet

Gilgamesh et Enkidu dans la forêt des cèdres I, 1981 | Photo © Charles Duprat

Gilgamesh et Enkidu dans la forêt des cèdres I, 1981 | Photo © Charles Duprat

The books that Anselm Kiefer began turning out in the years 1968 and 1969 were at first a place where the artist expressed ideas, associations and thoughts, the subsequent tomes quickly became a place for exploration in which the succession of pages made it possible to construct a narrative and situate it in time. The subjects elaborated there were then rescaled within the body of work as a whole, notably in his output of woodcuts. This art of the printmaking has allowed him to envision narrative forms in a completely different space from that of the painted canvas.

Pour Adalbert Stifter, Cristal de roche 2015-2017 | Photo © Charles Duprat

Pour Adalbert Stifter, Cristal de roche 2015-2017 | Photo © Charles Duprat

Univers-îles, 2017 | Photo © Georges Poncet

Univers-îles, 2017 | Photo © Georges Poncet

The present exhibition Anselm Kiefer Books and woodcuts is the result of a collaboration between the Jan Michalski Foundation for Writing and Literature in Montricher and the Astrup Fearnley Museet in Oslo. It aims to point up the artist’s many connections with poetry, myths, Sumerian and Biblical stories, fairytales, history, philosophy, Kabbalah, alchemy, and more, through a series of books dating from the years 1969 to 2017, and an accompanying selection of woodcuts, the most recent of which are being shown for the first time.

La ligne Siegfried, 1982-2013 | Photo © Charles Duprat

La ligne Siegfried, 1982-2013 | Photo © Charles Duprat

Curatorship

Natalia Granero, Jan Michalski Foundation, Montricher, Switzerland
Gunnar B. Kvaran, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo, Norway

Exhibition Catalogue

Anselm Kiefer | Livres et xylographies | Books and woodcuts
Texts by Götz Adriani, Jean-Max Colard, Anselm Kiefer and Rainer Michael Mason
Bilingual French and English
Co-publication by the Jan Michalski Foundaton and the Astrup Fearnley Museet, 2019
532 pages, 23.5 x 32.5 cm
CHF 75.- | EUR 75.-
ISBN 978-2-9701038-5-1

Partnership

The exhibition will subsequently run from 30 May to 25 August 2019 at the Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo.

Programme

Guided tours of the show [in French]

  • Sunday 10 March at 3 pm

  • Saturday 6 April at 3 pm

  • Saturday 4 May at 3 pm

For the family [in French]

  • Wednesday 20 February from 2 pm to 4 pm

  • Wednesday 13 March from 2 pm to 4 pm

Territoires et peuples de notre temps, 1976 | Photo © Georges Poncet

Territoires et peuples de notre temps, 1976 | Photo © Georges Poncet

Gilgamesh et Enkidu dans la forêt des cèdres I, 1981 | Photo © Charles Duprat

Gilgamesh et Enkidu dans la forêt des cèdres I, 1981 | Photo © Charles Duprat

Pour Adalbert Stifter, Cristal de roche 2015-2017 | Photo © Charles Duprat

Pour Adalbert Stifter, Cristal de roche 2015-2017 | Photo © Charles Duprat

Univers-îles, 2017 | Photo © Georges Poncet

Univers-îles, 2017 | Photo © Georges Poncet

La ligne Siegfried, 1982-2013 | Photo © Charles Duprat

La ligne Siegfried, 1982-2013 | Photo © Charles Duprat