From Library Journal
The obscure, stormy gray paintings of this German postmodern artist are the antithesis of the colorful and light-filled works of the French Impressionists. In much the same way, Kiefer's philosophic viewpoint rejects the clarity and rationalism of the art traditions based on the aesthetic theories of the Enlightenment. Skillfully weaving an explication of Kiefer's work from the philosophy of Baudrillard, Nietzsche, Foucault, and others, Gilmour presents an intertextual reading of Kiefer mercifully free of those tangled thickets of language that prevent most of us from understanding philosophy. This is not to say Gilmour's book is easy reading; considerable intellectual effort is needed to digest the arguments presented. Since Kiefer is an exemplar of the postmodern movement, the book will be valuable for upper-level students of both art and philosophy.- David McClelland, Temple Univ. Lib., PhiladelphiaCopyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Book Description
Born in 1945, the German painter Anselm Kiefer "represents the concerns and insecurities of postwar European intellectuals, confronted by a questionable past and a future so threatening that it tends to create despair." In this philosophical case study of Kiefer’s work, John C. Gilmour addresses a crisis that is common to twentieth-century art and aesthetic theory: the loss of confidence in the ideals and world view inherited from the Enlightenment. Modernism’s historical moment has passed, he claims, and Kiefer’s art—which was the subject of a recent national exhibition—reveals the contours of an emerging postmodern vision. Considering the writings of Jameson, Foucault, Baudrillard, Lyotard, and Nietzsche, among others, Gilmour shows how Kiefer’s use of literary, mythological, and other cultural texts parallels the intertextual approach common among postmodern theorists. At the same time, the artist’s cosmological questioning adds a dimension lacking among many of postmodernism’s leading proponents. The author interprets Kiefer’s art as a site where distinctions between modern and postmodern senses of representation, history, cosmology, and nature become thematic. He addresses individual paintings—the book includes forty-four illustrations—and gives the historical, biographical, art-critical, and philosophical setting for each piece.

From the Publisher
A philosophical case study of Kiefer's work

From the Inside Flap
"This is a careful, clearly written study of topics that are often discussed by others in obscure jargon. The work is obviously informed both by a deep, extensive knowledge of Kiefer's painting and by a comprehensive understanding of postmodern thought and culture. Gilmour easily moves back and forth between sensitive descriptions of the meaning, textures, and symbolic associations of the artworks and lucid discussions of theories of contemporary art and culture." —Gary Shapiro, University of Kansas

About the Author
John C. Gilmour is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the B.A. in Fine Arts Program at Alfred University.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal