About this artwork
This collage refers to the artist's interest in sources of energy and power. A battery can be either a portable source of energy, or an instrument that converts chemical to electrical energy. Used as a motif, the battery would have appealed to the artist for its capacity to store or transform energy and in its ability to convert one type of energy to another. Beuys later used the concept of the battery in his series of sculptural works called 'Fonds'.
Updated before 2020
see media-
artist:Joseph Beuys (1921 - 1986) German
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title:Battery
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date created:1959
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materials:Graphite on board on oil paint on paper
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measurements:24.00 x 25.20 cm
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object type:
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credit line:ARTIST ROOMS National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. Acquired jointly through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and Art Fund, 2008
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accession number:AR00110
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gallery:
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artwork photographed by:Antonia Reeve
Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys
German artist Beuys believed that art was integral to everyday life. According to Beuys his own art was shaped by an experience early in his life. As a Luftwaffe pilot during the war, he claimed that he was shot down over the Crimea and was saved by nomadic Tartars. Barely alive, he was wrapped in...