Anselm Kiefer had just abandoned the study of law and turned to art, late in 1966, when he made a trip to view the monastery at La Tourette, built by the French architect Le Corbusier. The young German intended to study the methods used by the architect to give a concrete material appearance to abstract,religious ideas. It was not enough, however, for Kiefer to visit La Tourette; he felt he must also experience monastic life, so he spent three weeks as a guest of the Dominicans, living in a cell and joining in the daily rituals of the monks...

Anselm Kiefer had just abandoned the study of law and turned to art, late in 1966, when he made a trip to view the monastery at La Tourette, built by the French architect Le Corbusier. The young German intended to study the methods used by the architect to give a concrete material appearance to abstract,religious ideas. It was not enough, however, for Kiefer to visit La Tourette; he felt he must also experience monastic life, so he spent three weeks as a guest of the Dominicans, living in a cell and joining in the daily rituals of the monks. The commitment with which the aspiring artist approached this experience is indicative of his complex character; he would probably agree with Paul Klee, who found, earlyin his career, that "painting without... a live, positive philosophy [is]... only partly satisfactory." Kiefer,too, has continuously sought philosophical and spiritual nourishment for his art, although he has never been an adherent of any particular ideological system. Instead, he retains a pronounced, psychological distance, even as he absorbs fundamental tenets,studies their outward manifestations, and gains insights. His process is, in effect, to "try on" each approach, as he had done at La Tourette. These experiences generally enlarge his vision of the theories that exist to explain physical and human events and provide him with personages and stories to use in his art.

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Developing an Outlook: 1969 to 1973

On Being German and an Artist: 1974 to 1980

A Formal Breakthrough: 1980 to 1982

Visions of a New World: i980 to 1987

Postscript

Notes

Selected Exhibitions

Selected Bibliography

Checklist of the Exhibition

Index of Names

Index of Illustrations