Özet:

It has been observed that various artists, primarily including Anselm Kiefer, a distinguished artist of Neo-expressionism, started having an interest to artists’ books becoming more popular throughout the 20th century under the influence of modern art movements. Known for his works reflecting the effects of the Second World War and focusing on the devastation and destruction of war, Kiefer is also interested in different fields such as mythology, eastern mysticism, and philosophy. Within this scope, integrating mythological elements into his artistic works, the artist published his work “Gilgamesh and Enkidu in the Cedar Forest III" (Gilgamesch und Enkidu im Zedernwald III), produced back in 1980s, as an artist book. In the scope of the paper, a group of issues are dealt with, including emergence of artists’ books, production process of artists’ books, and books produced by Kiefer himself. The connection with the myth of Gilgamesh formed around the Kiefer’s work, “Gilgamesh and Enkidu in the Cedar Forest III, is studied referring to mythological elements. Besides, the material language created through the basic concepts of the myth is also explored. For the analysis of the artworks in the book, the methods of “artist-centered approach” and “work-centered approach” are employed. The study concludes that, artists’ books, as a peculiar combination of various artistic ways of expression, forms a new field of discipline. This has led artist’s books to be recognized as work of art. And thanks to the uniqueness of his works, Kiefer has become one of the distinguished representatives of artists’ books. Nevertheless, it has also been observed that his works are not sufficiently recognized in the related literature.