Abstract

A painting by Anselm Kiefer provides the starting point for the problem to be addressed in this essay. In Sulamith we encounter a haunting image of a cavernous brick room, its ceiling blackened from some earlier fire. Except for seven flames visible in the distant reaches of the room, no light is showing. The windows have been covered over by fragments of woodcuts, stapled to the surface, and the flaming torches lining the walls of this memorial space have been obscured by other fragments. Everywhere there is the feeling of emptiness, enclosure, and mourning. Inscribed in the upper left corner a word appears. In addition to the staples, which the artist has made no effort to hide, a careful scan reveals several bits of straw attached to the surface. How are we to interpret this painting, which is more like a complex text than a vehicle of immediate visual meaning?