|
May
12, 1921 - January 23, 1986
Painter,
sculptor, teacher, performance artist,
activist, theorist. German-born Joseph
Beuys is
considered one of the most influential
avant-garde artists of modern times. After
eschewing aspirations to become a doctor,
a yearlong stint as a circus acrobat, and
serving as a radio operator in the German
airforce, Beuys decided to devote his life
to art. Beuys entered the Düsseldorf
Academy of Art in 1947 where he studied
under sculptor Ewald
Mataré.
Beuys provocative works consistently
question the parameters of the expected
role of an artist in society. Relentlessly
prolific, Beuys produced sculptures,
paintings, drawings, essays, numerous
theories, and performances all while
training a new generation of young
European artists. Beuys' vision was to
integrate his concepts of spirituality,
environmentalism, and social activism
within his pieces of art. Beuys theorized
that Western society was suffering from
social, political, and ecological malaise,
and saw art as a viable means to
collective redemption.
Owed
a huge debt by modern performance artists,
Beuys was aligned with the Fluxus
movement, which sought to stretch the
definition of art beyond painting and
sculpture. In one of Beuys legendary
performance acts, he decorated his head
with honey and gold leaf, wore shoes soled
with felt and iron, and quietly
pontificated on pieces of art to a dead
hare, while he walked through a gallery.
In another performance action, he spent
three days in a New York gallery wrapped
in a felt blanket with a coyote.
Beuys
also used nontraditional material and
everyday objects in his work, which had
sentimental value to him. It's been
speculated that his predilection for
materials such as felt, rusted metal, and
coagulated fat stemmed from a World War II
plane crash in which his rescuers saved
him by wrapping him in fat and felt
blankets to restore his body heat.
Beuys
used his art to further his social and
political ideas. For example, he sold his
works on the streets for pocket change,
claiming that art and it's effects should
be experienced by all social classes.
Alibris
is proud to offer many copies of works by
and about Joseph
Beuys, as
well as many collectible materials.
|
Caroline Tisdall >Joseph Beuys< Thames
Hudson, NY, ISBN 0-500-09136-6
Mark Rosenthal, Sean Rainbird,, Claudia
Schmuckli > Joseph Beuys- Actions, Vitrines,
Environments < , Tate Publisching, ISBN
1-85437-585-7