Death Fugue by Paul Celan ..... Black milk of morning we drink you at dusktime we drink you at noontime and dawntime we drink you at night we drink and drink .... we scoop out a grave in the sky where it’s roomy to lie ..... There’s a man in this house who cultivates snakes and who writes who writes when it’s nightfall nach Deutschland your golden hair Margareta ....... he writes it and walks from the house and the stars all start flashing he whistles his dogs to draw near ....... whistles his Jews to appear starts us scooping a grave out of sand ...... he commands us to play for the dance ......... Black milk of morning we drink you at night we drink you at dawntime and noontime we drink you at dusktime we drink and drink ....... There’s a man in this house who cultivates snakes and who writes ....... who writes when it’s nightfall nach Deutschland your golden hair Margareta ......... your ashen hair Shulamite we scoop out a grave in the sky where it’s roomy to lie ........ He calls jab it deep in the soil you lot there you other men sing and play .......... he tugs at the sword in his belt he swings it his eyes are blue jab your spades deeper you men you other men you others play up again for the dance .............. Black milk of morning we drink you at night we drink you at noontime and dawntime we drink you at dusktime we drink and drink ............. there’s a man in this house your golden hair Margareta your ashen hair Shulamite he cultivates snakes ........... He calls play that death thing more sweetly Death is a gang-boss aus Deutschland ........ he calls scrape that fiddle more darkly then hover like smoke in the air .......... then scoop out a grave in the clouds where it’s roomy to lie ......... Black milk of morning we drink you at night we drink you at noontime Death is a gang-boss aus Deutschland we drink you at dusktime and dawntime we drink and drink ....... Death is a gang-boss aus Deutschland his eye is blue he shoots you with leaden bullets his aim is true ........ There’s a man in this house your golden hair Margareta .... he sets his dogs on our trail he gives us a grave in the sky .... he cultivates snakes and he dreams Death is a gang-boss aus Deutschland ............... your golden hair Margareta your ashen hair Shulamite

Margarete 1981 Palette

Margarete 1981 Palette

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

"One of Kiefer's most powerful series of paintings was based upon Paul Celan's 1945 poem 'Death Fuge,' which was written in a Nazi concentration camp. The poem contrasted the Aryan blonde hair of Margarete and the dark 'ashen hair' of the Jewess Shulamite. In Your Golden Hair, Margarete (1981) a limp arc of bundled yellow straw is attached to a painting of one of Kiefer's devastated fields, as the Nazi blonde ideal was made grotesque. For Shulamite (1983) he painted a cavernous room based upon a Nazi memorial hall. The room appeared to be blackened with soot as a candelabrum burns in the back. This hellish, over-like environment was evocative of the Holocaust that consumed Shulamite. Fire, both as a destructive and redemptive force, was a common theme in Kiefer's art.
Kiefer was deeply interested in alchemy—the medieval folly of attempting to change such base materials as lead into precious gold. For Kiefer, the artist was an alchemist, converting raw materials such as paint and canvas into objects of great profundity. The aspirations and limits of art were symbolized by the motif of the winged palette that seems to be woefully earth bound."
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Thursday, February 25, 2010

















Seraphim 1983-84
Seraphim are angels sent to purify the world through fire and burnt offering. Fallen angels are represented in the snake at the bottom of the ladder. This canvas was created by oil paint, straw and shellac, and Kiefer set it on fire (see the black areas), as a burnt offering to God in atonement and seeking God's forgiveness to mankind for a world scorched with evil.
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Good & Evil have no gender
Early Medieval Garments = rectangular shapes
Pale Palette = all begin pure and darkness(reds into browns) grows as evil grows
Angular shapes (garment patterns)
Perpendicular intersections
No Hats
No Armour
Longest garments are ankle length
No dresses have trains
Uniform hair treatment- men & women
Moral clarity of character = simplicity of costume line
Witches= scenic palette
As costumes get darker complexions get paler
Darkening of costumes achieved by addition of layers (somewhat interchangeable between characters)
As layers are added.... each layer is a deeper value and layers are progressively more damaged and shredded


Uniform Make Up Palette across genders, progression of human qualities into pale lifeless qualities as morality is drained from the play so the visual blood increases and the skin tones become paler and paler.
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