The Women Alchemists

A tribute to 33 women who merged science and spirituality to healing ends, as commemorated through Kiefer's monumental painting series

This volume examines the gestation and realization of one of the German painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer's most conceptually innovative projects to date. Featuring 30-plus large-scale paintings, created by applying multiple layers of varnish, the series offers a poetic reflection on the role of female alchemists in the history of Western thought. Through esoteric symbols, ancestral materials and mythological references, Kiefer invokes 33 historical figures in his exploratory account, including Caterina Sforza, Mary Anne Atwood, Sophie Brahe and Isabella of Aragon. Rebellious mystics and scientists, these women form a lineage of protagonists in possession of an occult body of knowledge employed to heal and nurture others. Featuring several contextualizing and critical essays by curators and scholars, Women Alchemists evinces Kiefer's mighty effort to lend expression and substance to a realm of understanding historically relegated to the margins.

Anselm Kiefer (born 1945) developed his signature style of multimedia impasto painting through the influence of Neo-Expressionism and artists such as Joseph Beuys and Georg Baselitz. His art incorporates global religious traditions and occult teachings, while also reckoning with the legacy of the Third Reich.