Nigredo
Anselm Kiefer, German, born 1945
Date:
1984Medium:
Oil, acrylic, emulsion, shellac, and straw on photograph and woodcut, mounted on canvasDimensions:
10 feet 10 inches × 18 feet 2 1/2 inches (330.2 × 555 cm)Copyright:
© Anselm Kiefer, courtesy Gagosian Gallery Curatorial Department:
Contemporary ArtObject Location:
1985-5-1Credit Line:
Gift of the Friends of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in celebration of their twentieth anniversary, 1985
1984Medium:
Oil, acrylic, emulsion, shellac, and straw on photograph and woodcut, mounted on canvasDimensions:
10 feet 10 inches × 18 feet 2 1/2 inches (330.2 × 555 cm)Copyright:
© Anselm Kiefer, courtesy Gagosian Gallery Curatorial Department:
Contemporary ArtObject Location:
Currently not on view
Accession Number:1985-5-1Credit Line:
Gift of the Friends of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in celebration of their twentieth anniversary, 1985
Social Tags [?]
alchemy [x] avant-garde [x] expressionist [x] german [x] landscape [x] mixed media [x] nationalist [x]Huge expansive landscapes are a central motif in the art of Anselm Kiefer, born in Germany in 1945, the year World War II ended. Kiefer's landscapes bear witness to centuries of conflict and devastation on German soil.
The word nigredo, written in the upper-left corner, refers to alchemy, the medieval "science" that sought to transform earth into gold through a process of burning. Nigredo, the first stage of transformation, is characterized by blackening, followed by the emergence of a glowing light.