Joseph Beuys (German) 1921-1986

1. Joseph Beuys (German)1921-1986 Sculptor, Conceptual , Performance and Installation Artist

2. Materials & Associations • Fat fuel,flexibility, basic of life • Felt warmth insulator • Copper female • Iron male • Animals innocence intuition • Gold alchemy, magic

3. 1960s • Appointed Prof. Sculpture Dusseldorf Academy of Art 1961 • Meets Nan June Paik and becomes involved with Fluxus until 1964 • First performance or Action “Siberian Symphony” 1963

4. How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare1965 • Highlights the problem of communicating ideas and explaining art and creative work • Beuys said “Even a dead animal preserves more powers of intuition than some human beings with their stubborn rationality”

5. The Pack 1969 • Installation shows sledges (a pack of dogs) rushing away from the VW van ( Hitler said that every German would own a V.W. after the war). • Beuys ‘ explained – This conveyed a state of emergency the Volkswagen was of limited use, more direct and primitive means were necessary for survival. • Felt and fat prominent again - shows the symbolic importance of these materials in Beuys’ mind. It suggests a story of life, death and rebirth.

6. Sculpture/Installation • Further use of felt in this sculpture. • Beuys wore the suit during an Action “Isolation Unit” at Kunstakademie Dusseldorf 1970 • Objects from Actions were often used later as sculptures/installations

7. We Are The Revolution 1970s • His work became more political • Thought Action Art could stimulate a spiritual response from his audience that would facilitate a healing process • Art could help transform society • Founder member of the German Green Party • 1972 dismissed from Dusseldorf Academy of Art for enrolment of 125 students without qualifications. • The main focus of his work was dealing with the aftermath of WW2 in Germany

8. I Like America and America Likes Me • 1974 visited America for first time • American natives believed the coyote was an important god that could move between spiritual and physical world. However it was regarded as a pest by Europeans. • This action was a metaphor for white men’s treatment of the native Americans. • Highlighted America’s need to heal it’s own “wounds”

9. Vitrines • This displays the debris of an Action in 1972 when Beuys and two students made a “clean sweep” after a May Day parade in Berlin. • It demonstrated his disatisfcationwith Marxism and Western capitalism.

10. Tramstop • Beuys monument representing Germany at Venice Biennale 1976

11. 1980s • Installation “The End of the Twentieth Century” 1983-85 • Developed from a plan to plant 7000 oak trees in Kassel. • A piece of basalt rock would be placed next to each tree. • Here the rock (dead matter) is the main feature. A section has been cut from each and clay and felt inserted to suggest growth regeneration after a dark century

12. Influences • Fluxus, Minimalism & Art Povre Movements (to a degree) • Marcel Duchamp • John Cage • George Brecht • James Joyce • Rudolf Steiner (philosopher)

13. Artists Influenced by Beuys • Art Povera Movement • Robert Morris • Eva Hesse • Bruce Nauman • An important figure in modern sculpture, by advancing the use of unconventional materials, and inspiring performance artist.

14. General Info • Regarded as most important German artist in the post WW2 period. He showed a way forward for German Artists that differed from the American Abstract Expressionists. He also made it more possible for Germans to speak about WW2 . • Pioneer of performance art or “Actions”. His performances contained powerful symbols of life, death, transformation. • Political and social activist and founding member of the German Green Party • A myth evolved around his use of fat and felt – Beuys supposedly rescued by Tartars who covered him in fat and wrapped him in felt to keep him warm when his plane was shot down in WW2. • Fat and felt have associations with processes carried out in concentration camps during the Holocaust http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9_rYiBm_Qk