Heroic Symbols
Anselm Kiefer German
Not on view
This work derives from Kiefer’s staged photographs of 1969. In a provocation beyond the illicit subject matter, the artist chose the ironic title "Heroic Symbols" after a 1943 article published in the National Socialist Party propaganda journal Art of the German Reich, which promoted the importance of presenting the national heroism of the past to the citizens of Nazi Germany. Kiefer paired his self-portrait with another watercolor of a luminous blue sky stippled with watery red dots, which according to the artist represent gunshots. His lyrical, fluid handling of the medium is a further paradox with such disturbing and problematic subjects.
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