Anselm Kiefer: A Sculptor of German Memory Born in Donaueschingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, on March 8, 1945, Anselm Kiefer’s life and art are inextricably linked to the weighty history of his nation. Raised near the Rhine River in the Black Forest, he was named after the classical painter Anselm Feuerbach – a deliberate choice that foreshadowed his lifelong preoccupation with German identity, its past traumas, and the complexities of confronting memory. From an early age, Kiefer envisioned himself as an artist, a path he diligently pursued through studies at the University of Freiburg an…