"Book with Wings" By Ashley Hoover

Anselm Kiefer, German born 1945, sculpted Book with Wings in 1992. The sculpture is suspended in air by a pole. There are several lines in the piece. The book and wings are diagonal suggesting the book is in flight at the moment. The book has thin pages that are not flat, showing a page turning or that as the book is in flight the wind is turning the pages. The shape of the book is flat and the shape of the wings is volumetric as they expand. There is no empty space without objects in this sculpture. The book is at the center with the wings emerging from it. The piece is not life size; it dwarfs us. The book itself is huge and the wings expand a great deal. As far as light goes in the piece there is shadowing along the turning pages of the book and also along the bottom of the wings. The sculpture has only one color, gray. The book has a smooth texture except for the turning pages which are rough. Also, the wings have a rough texture. The wings are rough implying feathers fluttering in the wind. The sculpture has symmetrical balance. Each side of the open book is the same and both wings are identical. There is more than one area of interest, the book and the wings. One’s eye may first be drawn to the center, the book, then follow along to the wings. Also, the wings may catch the eye first and then one will discover the book at the center.
The sculpture is a model of knowledge. Book with Wings could possible illustrate the old phase “a book gives you wings”; how a person can take flight through a book. A person can escape their world for awhile and venture into another. Or, the piece could illustrate that a book itself has wings. A book’s knowledge can travel the world.