Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Offers a profile of the German artist, shows examples of his paintings and photographs, and discusses his approach to art. Colour throughout

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

This exhibition catalog is a must purchase for any library with a collection in modern or contemporary art. Given Kiefer's stature as one of the foremost living painters, the excellence and abundance (85 color/80 monochrome) of the catalog's plates alone would assure its importance. Yet Rosenthal's text constitutes one of the richest studies of the iconography of a contemporary artist's work now in print. Reviewing Kiefer's art chronologically, the catalog presents the complex and intensely German issues with which that art deals. To Rosenthal's credit, the disturbing and expansive concerns of the artist are made comprehensible to a US audience that may be largely unfamiliar with the convolutions of German politics and history. There is some inevitable repetition in the text, and Rosenthal could be chided for concentrating on the historical, mythic, and literary content of the paintings at the expense of their formal richness and bravura. Supported with a fine bibliography, this catalog is both a joy to peruse and a model of ambitious art-historical study. -R. E. McVaugh, Colgate University