J. Paul Getty Trust Honors Renowned German's

Painter & Sculptor " Anselm Kiefer " with  the 2017 J. Paul Getty Award Medal on Its Annual Dinner Gala in New York City... !

​

NEW YORK(SMI-WIRE,11.13.17)The J. Paul Getty Trust, held its annual J. Paul Medal Award dinner gala today, honoring Mario Vargas Llosa (2010 Noble Prize winner in Literature) and  Anselm Kiefer(Renowned German's Painter & Sculptor) for their extraordinary contributions to the practice, understanding and support of the arts at The Morgan Library & Museum in Manhattan, NYC.

​

Since it was established in 2013 by the trustees of the J. Paul Getty Trust, the medal has been awarded to six individuals to honor their extraordinary contributions to the practice, understanding and support of the arts. 

Past recipients of the J. Paul Getty Medal have included Harold Williams and Nancy

Englander, who were honored for their leadership in creating today’s Getty; Lord Jacob

Rothschild, for his leadership in the preservation of built cultural heritage; Frank Gehry, for transforming the built landscape with buildings such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall; Yo-Yo Ma, for his efforts to further understanding of the world’s diverse cultures; and Ellsworth Kelly, for paintings and sculptures of the highest quality and originality. 

​

Anselm Kiefer is a German painter and sculptor noted for powerful work and complex subject matter. His art deals with controversial issues from recent history, including the devastating power of war, the cycle of destruction and renewal, the place of women in history, and the relation of micro- and macrocosm. His works are included in numerous public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Tate Modern, London; and The Broad Museum in Los Angeles.

“His work is epic in its ambition and references the travails of history,” said Cuno. “He tells a rich and confounding narrative, full of deep and life-enriching pathos. 

​

Anselm Kiefer's monumental body of work represents a microcosm of collective memory, visually encapsulating a broad range of cultural, literary, and philosophical allusions—from the Old and New Testaments, Kabbalah mysticism, Norse mythology and Wagner’s Ring Cycle to the poetry of Ingeborg Bachmann and Paul Celan.

​

Born in Donaueschingen, Germany in 1945 during the closing months of World War II, Kiefer reflects upon Germany’s post-war identity and history, grappling with the national mythology of the Third Reich. Fusing art and literature, painting and sculpture, Kiefer engages the complex events of history and the ancestral epics of life, death, and the cosmos.

Kiefer’s oeuvre encompasses paintings, vitrines, installations, artist books, and an array of works on paper such as drawings, watercolors, collages, and altered photographs. The physical elements of his practice—from lead, concrete, and glass to textiles, tree roots, and burned books—are as symbolically resonant as they are vast-ranging. By integrating, expanding, and regenerating imagery and techniques, he brings to light the importance of the sacred and spiritual, myth and memory.

 

Kiefer’s work has been shown and collected by major museums worldwide including the Centre Georges Pompidou, the Grand Palais and the Musée du Louvre in Paris, France; The Royal Academy of Arts, London, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid and Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain, Fondation Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel; The Art Institute of Chicago, The Philadelphia Museum of Art; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal, Canada; Sezon Museum of Art, Tokyo, Kyoto National Museum of Art, and Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan.