Florence, Italy – Exhibition “Fallen Angels” of Anselm Kiefer at Palazzo Strozzi

The exhibition allows direct contact with the art of the German artist thorough new and historical works that engage in a profound dialogue with the Renaissance architecture of Palazzo Strozzi, including a new work especially created for the palace’s internal courtyard.

Fallen Angel is a journey that reflects on topics such as identity, history, and philosophy.

Through painting, sculpture, installation and photography, Kiefer’s art offers deep introspection into the human condition, in a complex weaving of connections between the past, present and future. Since his debut on the art scene in the late sixties, Anselm Kiefer is involved in an impactful, richly-layered work that explore themes of memory, myth, history, literature, and poetry. Every work of Kiefer expresses a refusal of limits—not only through scale and materiality—but also through the infinite richness of resources with which he probes the depths of memory and the past.

Born in 1945 in Donaueschingen, Germany, Anselm Kiefer is one of the most important and versatile artists working today. His artistic practice incorporates diverse media, including painting, sculpture, photography, woodcut, artist’s books, installations and architecture.

Kiefer studied law and romance languages before pursuing studies in fine art at academies in Freiburg and Karlsruhe. As a young artist, he entered into contact with Joseph Beuys and participated in his action Save the Woods (1971).

Early works confronted the history of the Third Reich and engaged with Germany’s post-war identity as a means of breaking the silence over the recent past. Through parodying the Nazi salute or visually citing and deconstructing National Socialist architecture and Germanic heroic legends, Kiefer explored his identity and culture.

From 1971 until his move to France in 1992, Kiefer worked in the Odenwald, Germany. Throughout this time, he started incorporating into his work materials and techniques which are now emblematic–lead, straw, plants, textiles and woodcuts–along with themes such as Wagner’s Ring Cycle, the poetry of Paul Celan and Ingeborg Bachmann, as well as Biblical connotations and Jewish mysticism.

The artist first received major international attention for his work when he represented West Germany alongside Georg Baselitz at the 39th Venice Biennial in 1980.

The mid-1990s marks a shift in his work; extensive travels throughout India, Asia, America and Northern Africa inspired interest in the exchange of thought between the Eastern and Western worlds. Structures resembling ancient Mesopotamian architecture enter the work. Glimmers of Southern France’s landscapes appear, evidenced by depictions of constellations or the inclusion of plants and sunflower seeds.

An avid reader, Kiefer’s works are layered with literary and poetic references. These associations are not necessarily fixed nor literal, but rather overlap into an interwoven fabric of signification. The interest in books being both text and object is evident in his work. Since the beginning of his practice, artist’s books have constituted a significant part of his oeuvre.

Source: Palazzo Strozzi