joseph beuys (german) 1921-1986
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Joseph Beuys (German) 1921-1986. Sculptor, Conceptual , Performance and Installation Artist. Materials & Associations. Fat fuel,flexibility , basic of life Felt warmth insulator Copper female Iron male Animals innocence intuition - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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Joseph Beuys (German)1921-1986
Sculptor, Conceptual , Performance and Installation Artist
![Page 2: Joseph Beuys (German) 1921-1986](https://reader035.vdocuments.site/reader035/viewer/2022062305/56816459550346895dd62801/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Materials & Associations
• Fat fuel,flexibility, basic of life
• Felt warmth insulator
• Copper female• Iron male• Animals innocence
intuition• Gold alchemy, magic
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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
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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”
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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.
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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
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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
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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”
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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 disatisfcation with Marxism and Western capitalism.
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Tramstop
• Beuys monument representing Germany at Venice Biennale 1976
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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
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Influences
• Fluxus, Minimalism & Art Povre Movements (to a degree)
• Marcel Duchamp• John Cage• George Brecht• James Joyce • Rudolf Steiner (philosopher)
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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.
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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