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Lot's Wife

1989
(German, 1945-)
Germany, 20th century
oil paint, ash, stucco, chalk, linseed oil, polymer emulsion, salt and applied elements (e.g., copper heating coil), on canvas, attached to lead foil, on plywood panels
Framed: 350 x 410 cm (137 13/16 x 161 7/16 in.)
Weight: 1,000 each panel
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 1990.8.a
© Anselm Kiefer
Location: 229B Contemporary
Copyright
This artwork is known to be under copyright.

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Did You Know?

The subject of railroad tracks was inspired by the artist’s photograph of the Bordeaux rail facility.

Description

As a German artist, Kiefer struggles with the aftermath of the Holocaust and creates work that engages history, ethical issues of the present, and German identity through images emblematic of Nazi sites. This barren, deeply recessed landscape is divided by train tracks, recalling the deportation and death issued by the Nazi party. A substructure of lead mounted on wood is marked by footprints and tire tracks, plastered, burned, and covered with ash. The raw natural materials and destructive artistic process symbolize human tragedy. Salt, applied to the upper half of the work, connects the historical event with the biblical narrative of Lot’s escape from Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot’s wife, who disobeyed warnings not to look back at God’s destruction of the cities, was turned into a pillar of salt.
Lot's Wife

Lot's Wife

1989

Anselm Kiefer

(German, 1945-)
Germany, 20th century

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