Joseph Beuys Art for Sale: Prints & Originals

Joseph Beuys was born on 12 May 1921 in Krefeld, Germany. Raised in the nearby town of Kleve, Beuys developed an early interest in natural sciences and folklore, themes that would later permeate his artistic practice. During World War II, Beuys served as a radio operator and bomber pilot in the Luftwaffe, an experience that shaped his worldview and artistic philosophy.

After the war, Beuys studied sculpture at the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts. It was during this period that he began to develop his artistic language, incorporating unconventional materials such as felt, fat, and honey into his works. These materials, often linked to his wartime experiences, became central to his symbolic repertoire.

Beuys's artistic career began to flourish in the 1960s when he became associated with the Fluxus movement, an international network of artists known for their experimental and interdisciplinary approach to art-making.

In 1961, Beuys was appointed professor of monumental sculpture at the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts, a position he held until 1972. During this time, he gained international recognition for his provocative performances and installations. One of his most famous works, How To Explain Pictures To A Dead Hare (1965) was a performance piece which saw Beuys, with his head covered in honey and gold leaf, cradling a dead hare and whispering to it about his drawings.

Beuys's concept of 'social sculpture' emerged in the 1970s, proposing that art could be a vehicle for social and political change. This idea was exemplified in his work 7000 Oaks (1982), a large-scale environmental project initiated at documenta 7 in Kassel, Germany, where 7,000 oak trees were planted alongside basalt stone columns.

Throughout his career, Beuys remained politically active, co-founding the German Student Party in 1967 and later the Free International University for Creativity and Interdisciplinary Research in 1973. His work blurred the lines between art, politics, and social activism, challenging traditional notions of what art could be and who it is accessible to.

Beuys's influence extended far beyond Germany, with major exhibitions at the Guggenheim Museum in New York (1979) and the Tate in London (1972). Following his death in 1986 in Düsseldorf, Beuys’s legacy of art and activism endures.

Beuys’s performances, or "actions," often bridged art and life, employing ritualistic elements to provoke thought and transformation. His 1974 performance piece, I Like America and America Likes Me, involved spending three days in a New York gallery with a live coyote. Wrapped in felt, Beuys saw the coyote as a symbolic figure representing America's spirit, resilience, and potential for transformation. His actions aimed to heal societal rifts through direct, symbolic communication, drawing on his personal experience and broader socio-political issues in 1970s America.
In 1980, Beuys was one of the 500 original founders of the German Green Party, reflecting his belief in the interconnection of art and politics. For Beuys, activism was a form of 'social sculpture', where the world itself became his canvas. He saw no distinction between art and political action, often blending the two in performances and lectures, using objects like slabs of fat to symbolise democratic principles. Through this, Beuys championed the idea that creative and political engagement could shape a more just and sustainable society.
In 1979, Beuys and Warhol met for the first time, a moment captured at a Düsseldorf exhibition. While the two artists came from vastly different worlds—Warhol representing consumer culture and Beuys embodying environmentalism and social change—their meeting resulted in a significant portrait series by Warhol. Using a Polaroid taken at their encounter, Warhol created a series of prints of Beuys, reflecting both admiration and artistic connection. This collaboration marked a moment of mutual recognition, blending Warhol's pop techniques with Beuys’s intellectual approach, driven by social justice.