Fire on the Earth: Anselm Kiefer and the Postmodern World (ARTS AND THEIR PHILOSOPHIES)
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,History & Criticism
Fire on the Earth: Anselm Kiefer and the Postmodern World (ARTS AND THEIR PHILOSOPHIES) Details
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. Read more
Reviews
This book takes a postmodern sensibility to explore many issues, with Anselm Kiefer's art as the nodal point for inquiry. Among the interesting twists of this book is an exploration of Vernant's concept of "tragic man." For this person, ". . .the flow of natural consequences is independent of any single agent's intentions since it is impossible to control the past or to change life's cosmic circumstances." As an example, in "King Oedipus," the main character is doomed by a past that he is unaware of, by the whims of the gods, and to a lesser extent by his own pride--the desire to find out the answer to the riddle of his father's death. In that sense, he was not the most significant agent of his own destruction, although he bore some responsibility. Vernant argues that Greek tragedy reflects the desire of the agent of action to try to control events while simultaneously acknowledging that there are great limits on that control due to primordial forces more powerful than humans.At any rate, Gilmour's book is a fascinating tour de force, with nice photos to exemplify points that he makes.