Anselm Kiefer: The Psychology of "after the Catastrophe"

Anselm Kiefer is one of the most interesting - if controversial - artists in the world today. For years, he has probed both the myths and events that have shaped German history, and has offered, through his majestic paintings and lyrical artist's books, his thought-provoking insights into their relationship and significance. In Anselm Kiefer: The Psychology of "After the Catastrophe", Rafael Lopez-Pedraza presents a carefully woven and challenging new reflection on Kiefer's art, addressing the central issues of myth and history in Kiefer's work through the perspective of C.G. Jung's work, and in particular Jung's essay "After the Catastrophe". Lopez-Pedraza unfolds the nature of Kiefer's complex creativity, demonstrating how depth psychology may help us to better understand Kiefer's art and ideas. To illustrate his argument, Lopez-Pedraza uses a variety of images from Kiefer's richly productive career of over three decades, thus providing a comprehensive overview of Kiefer's entire creative expression.