Collection particulière
Vente : Christie's, New York, Contemporary Art, 17 novembre 2000, lot 470
Collection particulière, France

Los Angeles, The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, Anselm Kiefer, juin - septembre 1988

The colours are fairly accurate in the catalogue illustration although it does not convey in full the richness of the lead colour of the background and the relief of the palm roots in the foreground. Under UV light, there is no evidence of any retouching. This work is in excellent condition.
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L’Arbre de Jesse est l’un des nombreux épisodes de l’Ancien Testament traités par Anselm Kiefer. Il produisit deux versions  de l’arbre généalogique du Christ – une plus récente qui est conservée à l’Albertina Museum de Vienne. Il reprend ici la composition verticale de l’arbre, où Jesse apparait dans le bas du tableau sous la forme de branches entrelacées qui s’échappent vers le haut formant les branches des ancêtres du Christ. Les mythes intéressent Kiefer pour les relations qu’ils construisent entre les deux mondes et pour les récits qu’ils proposent pour rendre compte des catastrophes de l’ordre divin dans l’histoire du monde. La structure mythique est, en ce sens, au cœur de sa poétique. Pour lui, les mythes ont gardé leur efficacité : ils « ré-enchantent » le monde en permettant d’y percevoir encore, toujours, l’action présente des forces immémoriales.

The Tree of Jesse is one of the numerous episodes from the Old Testament addressed in Anselm Kiefer’s work. He produced two versions of Christ’s family tree – a more recent one is currently preserved at the Albertina Museum in Vienna, in which he adopts the vertical composition of the tree.  Jesse appears under the form of intertwined branches at the bottom of the work, escaping and reaching towards the top forming the branches of Christ’s ancestors. Kiefer’s interest in myths is due to 🎃their ability to forge relations between the two worlds as well as the stories they tell to account for divine disasters in the world’s history.  In this regard, the mythical structure is at the heart of his poetic language.  For him, myths have kept their efficiency: they enchant the world by allowing us to perceive the presence of immemorial forces.