Anselm Kiefer

Sonnabend Gallery, New York
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 1993

Groningen, Groninger Museum, Anselm Kiefer, 1980-81, no. 4, illustrated
Chicago, The Art Institute; Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Anselm Kiefer, 1988, pl. 21, illustrated in colour
London, Tate Gallery; Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie & Württembergischer Kunstverein; Tübingen, Kunsthalle; Hamburg, Deichtorhallen; Vienna, Bank Austria Kunstforum, Sammlungsblöcke. Stiftung Froehlich, 1996-97, p. 80, no. 124, illustrated in colour
Karlsruhe, Museum für Neue Kunst, KunstSammeln, 1999-2000, p. 79, illustrated in colour
Karlsruhe, Museum für Neue Kunst (on temporary loan 2001-2006)

Exhibition Catalogue, Stuttgart, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Anselm Kiefer, 1980

Kiefer’s celebrated Brünhilde series, based on Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung, is about love and the timeless conflicts between its ideals and reality. Continuing his investigation of German myth, Kiefer examines the story of Siegfried and Brünhilde. Siegfried, so the story goes, after marrying Brünhilde and having watched her sacrifice her supernatural powers for the sake of her love, falls victim to his own ambition for fame and adventure in the form of a poison that makes him forget the vows he has made to her. Brünhilde seeks revenge, but by this time Siegfried had died and she discovers that the two of them have been deceived. Consequently she erects a huge funeral pyre for Siegfried and rides her horse Grane into flames. This dramatic gesture of self-sacrifice captured here has often been used as an iconic symbol of the legendary Polish cavalry, who sacrificed themselves against the Panzers of Hitler’s invading forces, while Wagner’s Myth of the Nibelung has long functioned as a cultural prop of German militarism.

 

In the T-shaped Brünhilde-Grane (1978) Brünhilde herself is represented only by the inscription and the presence of her horse. The three elements - the wood, the animal and the fire – remain distinct. Kiefer used a found image for the animal, which he carved onto at least eight separate planks. The pyre of branches below, also carved on several planks, has been ignited with flames of white acrylic. In the inscription area above the horse, Kiefer stressed the woodcut medium with imprints of grainy uncarved planks and revives the tree and forest mythology so dear to the heart of German nationalism. He also points to the reproductive nature of the medium by repeating imprints from the same horizontal boards. The topmost and third are the same, as are the second and fourth, although different registration of ink for the printing of each makes them appear slightly different.