Lot Essay
The Elliott version of Die Donauquelle, with its painted cover, is to be sold with an unadorned version of the book. The plain covered copy is dedicated For Gerald Buchen d.6.XI.84 Anselm Kiefer on the frontispiece page, and a personal letter from the artist to Gerald Elliott is taped to the inside cover.
Die Donauquelle (The Source of the Danube) depicts Kiefer's exploration of a mythological subject within the artist's larger view of the relationship between art and nature. The book contains several recurring themes in Kiefer's work, specifically that of the idea of the 'palette' possessing both human and spiritual attributes.
Speaking of Die Donauquelle, Mark Rosenthal notes "That [Kiefer] should focus once again on water is not surprising...These associations with birth and death, destruction and regeneration, establish a context for the watery setting in which the palette arises...the birth of the palette is...the first stage of life (M. Rosenthal, Anselm Kiefer, Chicago and Philadelphia 1987, pp. 72-74).
Die Donauquelle (The Source of the Danube) depicts Kiefer's exploration of a mythological subject within the artist's larger view of the relationship between art and nature. The book contains several recurring themes in Kiefer's work, specifically that of the idea of the 'palette' possessing both human and spiritual attributes.
Speaking of Die Donauquelle, Mark Rosenthal notes "That [Kiefer] should focus once again on water is not surprising...These associations with birth and death, destruction and regeneration, establish a context for the watery setting in which the palette arises...the birth of the palette is...the first stage of life (M. Rosenthal, Anselm Kiefer, Chicago and Philadelphia 1987, pp. 72-74).