Students from RFLS went to visit Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) to experience the German modern arts.
On December 3rd, 2016, students from RFLS went to CAFA with their Arts teachers and parents. Students had a wonderful time in the CAFA gallery and met with Anselm Kiefer who is a contemporary artist from Germany.
Anselm Kiefer was born in 1945 and grew up in a complex time. He has a permanent exhibition in the Louvre after George Braque. Most of his art works were inspired by German culture in a variety of aspects, including history, myth, literature, art history, music, philosophy, architecture, folk customs, geography and culture signatures. In addition, a rich trove of metaphors can be found in his use of oil paint, iron, artists’ palettes, wooden engravings and straws.
Kiefer’s works are full of power and give people a sense of visual shock. His challenging, widely-expressive, and theatrical paintings, sculptures, and installations receive high-quality reproductions and fluent interpretation. The complexity of Kiefer’s art is not easy to grasp, but the sense of responsibility in questioning history is obvious.
Before entering the gallery, teachers introduced the rules while students listened carefully. They realized that they came to the gallery to find the beauty of art, not just for fun.
Once the students saw Kiefer’s works, they were shocked by his powerful creations. Students were surprised by the volume of his ground-breaking works. They were also excited about the various materials he used to turn his ideas into art.
In this piece, Kiefer uses fabric, dry plants, garments and oil paints. Lilies and her daughters do not have images in this picture. Instead, their figures are presented by their clothes. This way of interpretation gives a sense of wonder to the piece.
RFLS students looked at every piece in order to feel the beauty of them. In order to reflect on the art, the students wrote down how they felt about the works.
Kiefer is like a lonely time traveler, who brings the Germanic people’s artistic and cultural traditions to an old but modern country–China. His art works touched the students’ hearts, and inspired them to further pursue visual art.
