The article reflects on the idea that artists may have only 'ten good years' of peak creativity, prompted by a visit to the exhibition "Anselm Kiefer: Early Works" at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. The author contrasts the young Kiefer's deft, emotionally intimate works from 1969–1982 with his later, more grandiose output, arguing that Kiefer's early period surpasses anything he has achieved since. The piece also revisits critic Douglas Cooper's harsh dismissal of late Picasso and former Tate director Alan Bowness's theory of artistic prime.
This matters because it challenges the conventional timeline of artistic success, suggesting that an artist's 'ten good years' can occur at any stage of life, not necessarily at breakthrough. By citing examples like Agnes Martin, Howard Hodgkin, and Louise Bourgeois, the article opens a broader conversation about how we evaluate artistic peaks and the subjective nature of critical consensus. It also raises questions about how aging artists are perceived, especially as Kiefer turns 80.