In this research dissertation I argue that selected works of artists Anselm Kiefer (b.1945) and Anish Kapoor (b.1954) can best be understood as representations of transcendence. I begin by locating works selected for this research within the body of work each artist has produced. This is followed by the definition of my key terms: representation, transcendence and emptiness. An analysis of the relation between these terms forms the basis for my theoretical framework. I will then investigate the specific material and aesthetic qualities of the selected works, and work towards a metaphorical and conceptual understanding of the artworks with the aid of my theoretical framework. This is followed by an investigation of my own creative work. In the conclusion I consolidate my analysis of representations of transcendence and emptiness in the previous three chapters, which is followed by a recapitulation and consideration of my findings.

This study intends to investigate British artist Anish Kapoor’s stylistic formation in relationship to globalization, positing its history as a multiplicity, comprised of several competing localisms, including: minimalism; the traditions of modern painting; and the artist’s own personal diasporic narrative. It will demonstrate how Kapoor is a transgressive global artist, concerned not only with rethinking the longstanding question of artistic form, but also with the enduring process central to the cultural formation of subjects. Overall, this thesis will propose that Kapoor’s art in particular can be comprehended by the special liminal position it occupies between such polarities as modern and postmodern art, painting and sculpture, East and West, national and trans-national, and local and global. By transgressing the borders that demarcate these discourses, Kapoor’s art enters an in-between state; through both formal and thematic strategies, his sculptural forms orchestrate viewers so they are able to move beyond distinct, fixed, and stabile meanings and view the works as eminently open to the different perspectives and radically diverse discourses they engage, making them truly global works of art.

Anish Kapoor affirme le caractère spirituel de ses œuvres, un terme qu’il distingue du religieux et du sacré. Quelle est la nature de cette spiritualité ? Il s’agit de retrouver l’union avec « la Totalité », union proto-culturelle qui serait perdue par l’emprise du matériel. S’agit-il d’un retour au « primitivisme dans l’art » à la manière de Paul Gauguin et Barnett Newman ? Cette démarche est-elle influencée par l’héritage hindouiste de Kapoor, ou bien tient-elle, comme il l’affirme, à la fonction hypostatique universelle de la couleur qu’il désigne comme « alchimique »? Comment ce caractère spirituel est-il perçu par le spectateur occidental ignorant des diverses influences culturelles qui traversent l’œuvre ? L’œuvre porte-elle les marqueurs du spirituel par ses formes et ses couleurs ? Ce mémoire étudie d’abord les diverses influences qui nourrissent et permettent de comprendre l’expérience des œuvres de Kapoor. Il s’attache ensuite à décrypter les mécanismes phénoménologiques, neurologiques et psychologiques qui permettent à ces marqueurs de fonctionner dans le contexte du musée ou de la galerie d’art moderne. / Anish Kapoor asserts the spiritual quality of his work. By spiritual he means not the religious or the sacred but the possibility to be reunited with a « Totality », in a « proto-cultural » manner, by eschewing the material. Is this project a return to “primitivism in art” in line with Paul Gauguin and Barnett Newman? Is it influenced by the Indian heritage of Kapoor or is it based, as he claims, on the hypostatic function of colour, which gives way to a quasi alchemical experience? How is this spiritual potentiality of the work perceived by a Western audience, ignorant of Kapoor’s various spiritual endeavours? Does the work convey through its shape and colour the markers of the spiritual? This dissertation analyses the various influences that nourish Kapoor and inform his works. It then attempts to decipher the mechanisms through which those makers are efficient in conveying a sense of “spirituality” to the works within the settings of the White cube Gallery or the museum of modern art. They appear to be phenomenological, neurological and psychological.

This thesis provides an overview of the engagement with the material culture of Assyria, unearthed in the Middle East from 1845 onwards by British and French archaeologists. It sets the artistic discovery of Assyria within the visual culture of the period through reference not only to painting but also to illustrated newspapers, books, journals, performances and popular entertainments. The thesis presents a more vigorous, interlinked, and widespread engagement than previous studies have indicated, primarily by providing a comprehensive corpus of artistic responses. The artistic connections between Britain and France were close. Works influenced by Assyria were published, exhibited and reviewed in the contemporary press, on both sides of the English Channel. Some artists, such as Gustave Doré, successfully maintained careers in both London and Paris. It is therefore often meaningless to speak of a wholly ‘French’ or ‘British’ reception, since these responses were coloured by artistic crosscurrents that operated in both directions, a crucial theme to be explored in this dissertation. In Britain, print culture also transported to the regions, away from large metropolitan centres, knowledge of Assyria and Assyrian-inspired art through its appeal to the market for biblical images. Assyria benefited from the explosion in graphical communication. This thesis examines the artistic response to Assyria within a chronological framework. It begins with an overview of the initial period in the 1850s that traces the first British discoveries. Chapter Two explores the different artistic turn Assyria took in the 1860s. Chapter Three deals with the French reception in the second half of the nineteenth century. Chapter Four concludes the British reception up to 1900, and Chapter Five deals with the twentieth century. The thesis contends that far from being a niche subject engaged with a particular group of artists, Assyrian art was a major rediscovery that affected all fields of visual culture in the nineteenth century.