The Past is Never Past: Anselm Kiefer — Early Works at the Ashmolean

Jon Malysiak | Medium | 17th February 2025

Distinguished he may be but there is a relentlessness to Kiefer’s later work. His paintings tend toward huge – sometimes grandiose – and are “grindingly earnest” in how they confront German military history. Is there any room for art? His early work, currently on show, doesn’t seem much lighter. It is direct, dense and “oppressive”. But then, admits the writer, he felt drawn, not by their beauty but by “an almost reluctant respect”. They “do not offer comfort, but they do offer reflection”.