Born in Germany in 1945, Anselm Kiefer is one of the most important artists of his generation. His works encompassing and transcending painting, sculpture, photography and installation are epic in both scale and subject-matter; in them Kiefer wrestles with the darkness of German history, unearthing the taboos that underlie the collective past and interweaving them with Teutonic mythology, cosmology and meditations on the nature of belief. This volume, accompanying a major retrospective of Kiefers works at the Royal Academy and including a number of new works especially made for the exhibition, explores the themes that run through Kiefers oeuvre, from the complex relationship between art and spirituality to the influence of German woodcuts and folklore. An essay by the internation - ally renowned historian Simon Schama also considers the role of the artist in the twenty-first century.