From BZ/dpa
He is one of the most internationally successful artists. Anselm Kiefer has now been awarded the National Prize in Berlin. Chancellor Scholz held the eulogy.
With Anselm Kiefer, one of the most important international contemporary artists has been awarded the German National Prize.
The 78-year-old painter and sculptor, who has lived in France since 1992, accepted the 30,000 euro award from the German National Foundation on Thursday.
In his eulogy, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) said that Kiefer had “done more than almost any other artist in the processing of German history”. In France, among other places, the artist is an important ambassador of history-conscious and modern Germany. It was Kiefer’s art to “uncover what was buried in our German and European history”.
Anselm Kiefer with Chancellor Olaf Scholz Photo: Jens Kalaene/dpa
The author Florian Illies called Kiefer a “German lie detector from life” and referred to the artist’s handling of history. “Anselm Kiefer has been preventing us from escaping the German past for five decades.” Chairman of the Board Thomas Mirow said on behalf of the foundation: “Rarely has an outstanding artist of our time linked his artistic legacy so closely with the penetration of the historical legacy of two nations.”
As an artist, Kiefer broke the taboo of depicting Nazi symbols early on, which brought him a lot of criticism in Germany. So he staged the Hitler salute in his father’s Nazi uniform. His deserted works, in a desolate and haunted mood, include gray sculptural landscapes covered with ash and straw, sunflowers cloaked in plaster of Paris and lead books, huge panel paintings in which the sun explodes and the earth collapses. For the artist, painting is reflection and research.
Works by Anselm Kiefer at an exhibition in London Photo: picture alliance / Photoshot
Today, Kiefer sees the border between France and Germany as as good as abolished. “In any case, I feel at home in both countries,” he said in his thanks for the award. From his point of view, social media does not remove borders. “The opposite seems to be the case to me,” said Kiefer. The digital revolution has created a touchless society. The “tsunami of information and contact opportunities” is doing the opposite of what it promises. Things are no longer getting to the bottom of things.
The foundation, founded in 1993 by a group led by ex-Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, has been using the prize since 1997 to honor people who have made a contribution to Germany growing together and to maintaining relations with its European neighbors.