The Books of Anselm Kiefer, 1969-1990

The Books of Anselm Kiefer, 1969-1990, ed. by Gotz Adriani, trans. by Bruni Mayor. London: George Brazilier, Inc. | Thames & Hudson, 1991. 4to, publisher’s cloth binding, 378 pp. Minor signs of shelfwear and use, slight stain to front of dust jacket. Otherwise a very good copy. From the front flap: ‘This is the first publication dedicated entirely to the livres d’artiste created by Anselm Kiefer, Germany’s most famous contemporary artist. The tradition of artist’s books began at the start of the 20th century. Kiefer’s works in the medium suspend the traditional connection between picture and text and almost completely eliminate the semantic function, epitomizing the state of this art form today. For Kiefer, books have an experimental character – draftlike, intimate, depicting a flow of development. They store pictures instead of words and are more reminiscent of drawings or paintings than of printed volumes. Kiefer attempts to translate his reflections on the more disastrous passages of German history into his art, within albums often made up of photo-graphs printed on thick paper. This is a multiform process, involving painting over the photographs and incorporating many different media: chalk, oil, bitumen, sand, clay, ashes, lead and human hair. The Books of Anselm Kiefer 1969-1990 offers an intimate view into the artist’s studio, and highlights a significant portion of Kiefer’s work, as exemplified by his remarkable piece The High Priestess. Kiefer himself participated throughout the production of this volume, overseeing the layout of each of his books.’ Text in English.