A mere detail from the central panel of the painting is overwhelming.
Oil, emulsion, acrylic, ash, thorn bushes, synthetic teeth, and snakeskin on canvas in glass and steel frames (130-1/2 x 227 x 14 inches)
Anselm Kiefer’s Large ‘Winter Forest’ Up Close
Oil, emulsion, acrylic, ash, thorn bushes, synthetic teeth, and snakeskin on canvas in glass and steel frames (130-1/2 x 227 x 14 inches)
Thats a very large snake
… in a very dark garden, A diorama really.
When I first looked at the middle section, I was smitten with what appeared to be rugged brushwork with oil paint for the trees and the forest floor, covered in snow.
I then examined the lower bramble bush section at the bottom.
At first glance, I misread the synthetic teeth, believing they were a small group of birds resting on the bush branches. I then reread the verbal elements and learned about artificial teeth.
I then read the verbal information reporting on the entire scale of the work and discovered the triptych is almost twenty feet wide, close to eleven feet high and fourteen inches deep!
Maybe it’s not intended to be viewed from a distance. Whatever the case, it’s a magnificent work of art.
Even imagining it in a wide-angled visual distance brings me a sense of intense power!
You may be right abt not having to see it at a distance. It is so immersive that from where I stood I felt surrounded by the scene.
It shares optical values with murals of renaissance, yet, it invites near view as well. The frame points to use of glass boxes for archeology and natural history in most museums. The illusion of depth is indeed a masterpiece…inspite of the dividing brushwork – that is some achievement!
thanks for the insight. yes.