Anselm Kiefer: The High Priestess

London: Thames and Hudson / Anthony d'Offay Gallery London, 1989. Hardcover. As New. Slate-gray stamped cloth, gray & BW illus. dust jacket, 227 pp., 253 color illus., 49 BW illus. OVERSIZE. Considers in-depth this detailed work by German artist Anselm Kiefer (b. 1945). "Called The High Priestess, it consists of two steel bookcases filled with gigantic lead books. Some of the books are empty of all inscription or image except the curious and often beautiful traces of a preliminary process during which the sheets were weathered, walked on, and attacked by atmospheric pollution. Others contain photographs: images of contemporary life seen both from the air and in close-up, echoing the texture of the lead leaves themselves, which often suggest to the imagiantion the look of the earth, sea or clouds. Some pages have other substances stuck to them -- clay, lead scraps, even hair -- which relate symbolically to the rest of Kiefer's work." (dj) Every portion of this piece is illustrated here. With an essay by Armin Zweite.