Unternehmen Seelöwe (Operation Sea Lion)

Anselm Kiefer's monumental artist’s book is a mocking denunciation of Germany's ill-conceived efforts to invade England during World War II (1939-45). This German military action, code-named “Unternehmen Seelöwe (Operation Sea Lion), ” called for a massive fleet of naval forces in a coordinated crossing of the English Channel to overwhelm and defeat British defenses. Deemed unfeasible by the German High Command, the plan was ultimately abandoned by Adolf Hitler. Kiefer’s bathtub wargame reenactments of the invasion plan belittle and mock Hitler’s avowed dream of “a thousand year Reich.” The blackened and roughly textured surfaces of the book's hand-painted pages evoke the immense destruction and degradation of warfare.