KEIFLER'S FATHERLAND: 'ANSELM KEIFER: EARLY WORKS' AT THE ASHMOLEAN OXFORD
- Zoe Goetzmann
- 30 minutes ago
- 4 min read
"If we don't remember what we have done, we will do the same thing again.”
— Anselm Kiefer
Such a quote encapsulates the Anselm Kiefer: Early Works exhibition at The Ashmolean, Oxford, on show until the 15th of June. The show supports the artist’s reclamation of German national identity seized by the Nazi regime: Early Works strives to explore these variable artistic, historic and cultural shifts via Kiefer’s diverse ranges of mediums and subjects (from human figures, animals to nature) through the lenses of personal history, Nordic mythology and German folklore.
Separated into three rooms of The Ashmolean, Anselm Kiefer: Early Works provide a comprehensive examination of the artist’s ventures into mixed media, portraits, still lifes, landscapes and woodcut artworks. The show curation of the show regresses to a simpler, more naive version of Kiefer’s artistry: unrecognised by art and art world individuals and professionals. The exhibition strives to capture the role of the artist as well as the artist’s (pre) and post war identity.
As visitors enter the show, art-goers are greeted by large-scale mixed-media artworks, similar to those seen in his previous solo 2023 exhibition, Finnegan’s Wake, at White Cube Bermondsey - an artistic reimagining of James Joyce’s modernist epic novel Ulysses. These distinctive artworks obtain their titles from autumnal-related poetry by Rainer Maria Rilke, drawing an immediate connection to German language and literature. Such work includes the large-scale piece entitled, Wer jetz kein Haus hat (Whoever has no House now) (2023) which retains its title from Rilke’s poem Herbsttag (Autumn Day). The piece consists of emulsion, acrylic, oil, shellac, lead, string and chalk on canvas.
Für Jean Genet (For Jean Genet), 1969
Following these artworks, audiences are confronted by Kiefer’s painting entitled, Heroische Sinnbilder (Selbstporträt) (Heroic Symbols (Self Portrait) (1970). A striking self-portrait, Kiefer wears his father’s Wehrmacht overcoat performing a Nazi Salute. The artwork intends to ridicule the image of Adolf Hitler.
Having visited this exhibition post-United States Presidential Elections (and the Elon Musk gestural incident), I found it ironic that I could see this image in a museum, yet I could still view access to social media comments denying the recurrence of this specific act in today’s social-political climate. As Ashmolean Director Dr. Xa Sturgis CBE noted in his introduction to the press visit and exhibition tour: “This is a show that feels - and it certainly didn’t feel when we planned it, but it feels now particularly urgent and relevant.”
Brünhilde (Brunhild), 1981
Walking towards the second room in The Ashmolean, art-goers can gaze at a series of wood-cut images. In Brünhilde (Brunhilde) (1981) - an artwork composed of oil and woodcut on paper, laid on burlap - Kiefer depicts this female Norse goddess with wild hair. Playing a key role in Richard Wagner’s Nibelungelied epic written in the 13th century, such a compositional work “was still strongly associated with the bitter taste of Germany’s Nazi past,” according to the publication, Anselm Kiefer: Early Works (edited by Lena Fritsch). In the painting, the woman possesses an angry visage. Through Kiefer’s unrestrained brushstrokes, the woman’s hair appears like “fire.” For the artist, fire motifs, as stated in the cited earlier written work, symbolised “transformation that is both a source of energy and destruction.” As do the artworks in the exhibition, the show establishes a reclamation and reconciliation of Anselm Kiefer’s post-war life and memories.
From top to bottom: Innenraum (Interior), 1982, Wald (Forest), 1973–74
As a Connecticut native, I found the last gallery room filled with Kiefer’s watercolours reminiscent of the 19th century romantic landscapes I used to see at The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art located in Hartford, Connecticut. I always felt a sense of safety and comfort when viewing them - reminding me of sceneries I used to see in my childhood. Such artworks were created by artists from the Hudson River School, including such as Thomas Cole, Frederic Edwin Church and Albert Bierstadt who celebrated nature and the American Identity via their masterpieces. distinctive artworks. As observed in one of Kiefer’s specific watercolours in the exhibition entitled, “Wald (Forest)” (1973-1974) spiritualism, viewers reconcile with Kiefer’s sensitive side outlined by German Romanticism and Spiritualism. As Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Dr. Lena Fritsch notes, “Watercolour as a medium is something that Kiefer has been using since teenage years.” Through Kiefer’s visual depictions of the forest, the artist reasserts artistic patronage over 'The Fatherland' once exploited by the Nazis as a false sense of German Patriotism.
In 2025, Anselm Kiefer: Early Works urges the viewer to reconsider the importance of stories, myths – reappropriated or stolen by past oppositional figures in history. In order for any artist to create their own artistic legacies, it becomes necessary for an artist to create their own myths. A close examination of the past becomes vital to create an artist’s story - and what they choose to leave to the world.personal or stories. All artwork must possess a story and a cohesive, linear, non-linear or even regressive narrative, fine tuned by a curator for an art-goer’s comprehension. At 80 years old, Kiefer further shapes his artistic legacy. Despite any efforts to destroy or erase the past, these consistent efforts to create personal mythologies serve as a powerful reminder that the past is never forgotten.
Anselm Kiefer: Early Works Exhibition
(14th February 2025 - 15 June 2025)
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Beaumont Street, Oxford, United Kingdom
OX1 2PH
Zoë Goetzmann is an arts writer and podcaster based in London.
