Art History Essay #3: Visit to The Rachofsky House

On the second floor of the Rachofsky House is a painting by Anselm Kiefer entitled Untitled (To the Unknown Painter).  The work was produced in 1983 and is composed of oil paint, emulsion, shellac, latex, and straw on canvas.  It is a large work, approximately four feet by six feet.  It depicts the interior courtyard of a building designed by an architect who notoriously worked for Hitler.  In the center of the courtyard is a tall, thin, monument upon which is displayed an artist's palette.  The lush application of paint combined with the straw added to the mix gives the painting a thick, gritty texture.  The roughness of the painting's surface enhances the confrontational subject matter of the painting.

Kiefer is well known for producing work that references German history, in particular the period of World War II and the Holocaust.  As a German born in the aftermath of that period, he has struggled in his art to come to terms with the impact of those events on the German nationality and how to reconcile himself to living with the shadow of that history over his country.  His work in general, as in this painting, is dark and textural, and contrasts stark subject matter with fragile materials - i.e. straw.  By raising a monument to the "unknown painter," Kiefer is indirectly memorializing the millions of unknown whose abilities to react to and record the atrocities of the Holocaust were lost.  At the same time, he contrast this with the (at the time) socially accepted art and architecture espoused by the Third Reich.  The shape of the building dwarfs the individual monument, and its walls seem to reach out to enclose it.  The emphasis seems to be the loss of the individual in the face of an overwhelming and ominous force.

I was struck by this painting the moment I saw it.  In the context of the smooth, airy, light planes of the Rachofsky House, the texture and darkness and size of the painting stood out dramatically.  Compositionally I think it is quite successful in conveying the impression of the individual being nearly overwhelmed by seemingly immovable forces.  I love texture in paintings and was very impressed by the mixture of different paints in combination with the straw.  It altogether enhances the brutality of the painting's subject.