Introduction
After-holocaust imagery is a creative expression of the genocide that continues creating conversations and making relevance in today’s society. Various artists such as Anselm Kiefer and Christian Boltanski have created images and artistic depictions of the Holocaust. Kiefer, a German, did the work Your Golden Hair, Margarete, while Boltanski did the work Monument: The Children of Dijon. After-holocaust imagery receives varied public impressions; some people have unclear views, while others think the imagery reinvigorates trauma and others suggest that after-holocaust imagery could help viewers get in touch with the past and face their trauma.
Brief Description of Imageries Involved
Your Golden Hair, Margarete is a 1981 artwork by Anselm Kiefer, a German. The artwork features golden and black wheat straws on a canvas, representing Margarete, a German Heroin, and Shulamit, a dark-haired woman, most likely a Jew. Monument: The Children of Dijon is a 1986 work by Christian Boltanski, a half-Jewish artist. The imagery showcases several light bulbs on rephotographed pictures of children from Dijon into “generic patterns of light and shade” (Luckhurst 154). The imageries may be interpreted as depictions of the Holocaust, a tribute to victims, or the artist’s documentation of their experiences.
Advantages of After-Holocaust Imagery
After-holocaust imagery plays a vast role in providing robust documentation of the Holocaust and depicting past events. As Boltanksi mentions, “Art is always a witness” (Garb). Kiefer’s work Your Golden Hair, Margarete depicts the relationship between Germans and Jews as interpreted in a poem titled Death Fugue by Paul Celan. The poem by the Roman-Jewish poet and survivor of the Holocaust talks of Margarete’s golden hair and Shulamit’s ashen hair to contrast German and Jewish women. Margarete was a German heroine, while Shulamit was King Solomon’s dark-haired beloved, as referenced in the Bible in the book of Song of Songs (Alteveer).
Kiefer reveals the German fascist nature in deliberate imagery (Ateveer) by showcasing the golden hair of most German women and the distinct nature it had to that of their Jewish counterparts who had dark hair. Celan’s poem tells of the atrocities that Jews went through, saying, “death is a master from Deutschland his eyes are blue, he strikes you with his lead bullets his aim is true” (Celan, para. 6, L.6-9). Therefore, as interpreted by a poet, Kiefer’s artwork gives a visual of two groups who, at one point, were separated by their appearances. The imagery recognizes the Jewish women and speaks of their suffering and torture.
Kiefer provokes an understanding of history through the artwork Your Golden Hair. He invokes memories through the excavation and restaging of events of the Holocaust to help people understand history (Kiefer slide notes). While bringing up the history of the Holocaust may get received in disgust and contempt, Kiefer’s art Your Golden Hair, Margarete enhances the understanding of history. Your Golden Hair, Margarete explores the possibility of people coming to terms with the events of the Holocaust. The artwork transgresses the taboos of the Nazi past as it evokes disgusting memories. As translated in “Death Fugue,” after-holocaust imagery elicits traumatic memories and suffering of the Jews “then as the smoke you’ll rise in the air… he sets his dogs on us he gifts us a grave in the air (Celan para.5, l.4, para. 6, l. 12-13). Kiefer helps viewers and victims of the Holocaust face their trauma rather than looking at their past as taboo. Additionally, Boltanski mentions that after-holocaust art can get used to “ask a question and to give emotion” (Salgal 12:42- 12:44). Uncovering the past through art also provides a long-lasting memory of events that are important for history.
Critics and members of the public get angry and negatively provoked by what Kiefer’s artwork embodies. The art seems to select pick aspects of the Holocaust that the viewers should remember, and Kiefer’s artwork seems apocalyptic (Wroe n.p). However, after-holocaust imagery may evoke disgusting memories but may help victims get in touch with their emotions despite the trauma. Boltanski’s work Monument: The Children of Dijon is an imagery work that represents a traumatic past, particularly for children during the Holocaust. Boltanski, who was half-Jewish, narrates some of his memories of hiding their father beneath the house to keep him from getting evicted (Luckhurst 155). His work seems to pay tribute to his horrific childhood memories growing up. Boltanski reveals how he has previously used imagery to express trauma. Therefore, after-holocaust imagery can allow victims and viewers to recover from trauma by exposing themselves to reality rather than avoiding it.
Ambiguities of After-Holocaust Imagery
Most after-holocaust artists face numerous questions, some of which remain unanswered. One may wonder why artists should make the situation more brutal, while others think imagery depictions are robust documentation. There are various perspectives on after-holocaust imagery on whether or not a meaningful depiction of horror exists. Boltanski goes beyond the Holocaust narrative that revolves around the Jews and the Nazis and tries to put his art viewers in a similar mindset. Boltanski uses material from the Holocaust to evoke a vision of events while allowing viewers to interpret his art however they wish.
During an interview with the bomb magazine, Boltanski says, “it’s also everybody, not only a Jewish person” (Borger, n.p) about people’s varied interpretations of his art. Therefore, Boltanski gives his imagery work a universal freedom of interpretation that makes his work more meaningful. However, some critics of after-holocaust imagery do not believe there is a correct or meaningful way to express horror, as Ardono claims, speaking about creating art or poetry after Auschwitz (Ardono’s Dictum “After Auschwitz” n.p). Therefore, ambiguity surrounds after-holocaust imagery, given multiple opinions that different people hold regarding the depiction of the Holocaust and the interpretation of imageries.
Boltanski’s art revolves around childhood, memories, and death; hence, the interpretations of his work can be ambiguous. The work Monument: The Children of Dijon uses lit electric lamps to represent children’s faces. The art depicts child saints from child martyrdom, where children were murdered for secular motives. The same art links to Boltanski’s Holocaust references to children, memories, and death, where children were only viewed as innocent. However, the ambiguity is that Boltanski does not view his art as Jewish and insists that his art should relate to everybody, not just Jews (Hatt, n.p. Borger, n.p). While Boltanski’s work Monument: The Children of Dijon almost directly infers to the Holocaust because of the name Dijon, a region occupied by Nazis before being liberated by French resistance (Hatt, n.p). Viewers of these images often wonder who controls what should get commemorated about the Holocaust since artists may have differing aims. However, viewers can also use the art to commemorate their childhood, using the imagery as a universal guide to overcoming past traumas.
Boltanski speaks of death more casually, saying, “We all carry a dead child within us… I remember the little Christian that is dead inside of me” (Hatt, n.p). The ambiguity associated with that is that the Holocaust reminds viewers of death and the death of the Jews. Therefore, for Boltanski to distance his art from singly representing the Holocaust, it becomes unclear how to interpret his work. To Boltanski, “the Holocaust is symbolic of something more universal… it is an example of dying, of common and impersonal dying” (Hatt, n.p). While most viewers of his work may get the impression of natural death during the Holocaust, one can also get an inspiration of dying in their childhood. Boltanski says, “we are dead children,” referring to his childhood art (Jennings, n.p). The inspiration of a child’s life and the innocence they bear seems to give a message that adults should also die in their childhood and treat each other with innocence rather than practicing the atrocities witnessed during the Holocaust.
While Kiefer’s imagery works in Your Golden Hair, Margarete may get interpreted as a tool that helps viewers to get an understanding of the history of the Holocaust; it may also get interpreted to show the superiority that the German women had over their Jewish counterparts. The depiction of black and golden straws shows how both German and Jewish women once coexisted peacefully. Moreover, Boltanski makes multiple references to childhood. He mentions that he researches religion even though he is not spiritual. Boltanski mentions lying about his childhood memories and reveals that he does not have any childhood memories, which may make his work on Monument: The Children of Dijon a tribute to childhood and forgotten memories (Luckhurst 154). It becomes ambiguous for viewers to understand the meaning behind such after-holocaust imagery when there are more aspects of the image that relate to the events of the Holocaust that Boltanski describes. However, the ambiguous nature of Boltanski’s art
Disadvantages of After-Holocaust Imagery
After-holocaust imagery can be retraumatizing for victims and viewers. While Kiefer and Boltanski may view their after-holocaust imagery work as a way to allow viewers to come to terms with the past and possibly reflect on their lives, some viewers do not relate to that school of thought. To some viewers, after-holocaust imagery can be traumatizing for having to look at horrifying images. Any form of imagery evokes memories or some form of relation to the imagery. Therefore, some viewers may face post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), where one gets immersed in a field of unbidden imagery or visual of an adverse event (Luckhurst 147). Boltanski could have suffered PTSD from the events of the Holocaust, and he develops ways to lie about his past and tends to draw inferences about the Holocaust from his work. At one point, Boltanski confesses having pretended to speak about his childhood, yet his real childhood has disappeared (Luckhurst 154). While Boltanski explains that his work must not only relate to the Holocaust and the Nazi regime, his work Monument: The Children of Dijon closely relates to the Holocaust.
Conclusion
After-holocaust imagery has several advantages, such as robust documentation of the genocide. The imagery also has various disadvantages; for instance, the memories evoked among viewers can get traumatic. In other instances, the post-holocaust imagery can be seen as promoting the war events rather than advocating for the victims. Finally, after-holocaust imagery attracts mixed reactions from the public, making it ambiguous to understand their thoughts on the imagery. Viewers may have unclear perspectives or interpretations of the imagery, while some may misinterpret the work. With more research into the aim behind an artist’s post-holocaust imagery, viewers can better understand the matter and probably change their mindsets.
Works Cited
Ardono, W. Theodor. “After Auschwitz.” (1949).
Alteveer, Ian. Anselm, Kiefer (born 1945). In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000. (2008). Web.
Borger, Irene. “Christian Boltanski.” Bomb magazine. Web.
Boltanski, Christian. Monument: The Children of Dijon. (1986).
Celan, Paul. “Death Fugue.” Translated by Joris, Pierre. (1952). Web.
Garb, Tamar. “Christian Boltanski”. London and New York: Phaidon Press. (2008)
Hatt, Twyla. “Christian Boltanski’s Reliquary: A work on mourning.” Family works: A multiplicity of meanings and contexts. Web.
Jennings, Rose. “Christian Boltanski.” Frieze. (1990). Web.
Kiefer, Anselm. Your Golden Hair, Margarete. (1981).
Kiefer. Slide notes 3-22. (n.d).
Luckhurst, Roger. The Intrusive Image Photography and Trauma. In The Trauma question. Routledge Taylor and Francis Group. (2008).
Salgal, Calrie. Christian Boltanski: Talking Art. (n.d). Web.
Wroe, Nicholas. “A life in art: Anselm Kiefer.” The Guardian. (2011). Web.