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Anselm Kiefer (1945) 
Professions: Painter; Landscape painter
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ANSELM KIEFER The Secret Life of Plants, 2001 Oil
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Anselm Kiefer (b. 1945)
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Anslem Kiefer (B. 1945)
Biography: Kiefer
(b Donaueschingen, 8 March 1945). German painter. He studied law in 1965–6 at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität in Freiburg, before starting to study art there in 1966 as a pupil of the painter Peter Dreher (b 1932). In 1969 he studied under Horst Antes at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Karlsruhe, and in 1970 he moved to the Staatliche Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf, where he met Joseph Beuys. From this time onwards history and myth were the central themes in his work: he was not concerned with reviving the history painting; rather, he attempted by means of drawing and symbols to expose the many-layered quality of historical processes, in order ‘to approach in an unscientific way the centre from which events are controlled’ (Kiefer, Art , 1990). On a journey through Switzerland, Italy and France in 1969 Kiefer produced the photographic series Occupations (see 1991 exh. cat., pp. 93–4), in which he photographed himself saluting in a pose that imitated Hitler. In this and in later books he presented his personal way of coming to terms with German history, literature and art history. His central concern was to experience history as a prerequisite for understanding it.
Grove Art excerpts - Electronic ©2003, Oxford Art Online
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