Joseph Beuys is one of the most influential artists of the second half of the twentieth century. Known for his installations, performances (which were referred to as ‘actions’) and political activities, his art is based around grass-roots democracy, pedagogy and environmentalism. Perhaps more so than any other artist of the period, Beuys’s own image and life story are inextricably linked to his work through his persona variously described as the Shaman, shepherd or stag-leader.
Born in 1921 in Krefeld, north-west of Düsseldorf, he spent most of his early life in or near the town of Kleve, close to the Dutch border. Having shown an early interest in drawing and music, as well as history, mythology, and the social and natural sciences, he opted for a career in medicine. His preferred career option was short-lived however and he enrolled in the German air force in 1941. His experiences in the military – as pilot and then as a paratrooper – would later inform his work, particularly his use of non-traditional materials such as felt and fat. Beuys was shot down over the Crimea and, in his own mythologised account of the experience, was saved by nomadic Tartars. Barely alive, he was wrapped in felt and fat which preserved his body heat, and taken to safety on sledges pulled by dogs.
After the war Beuys went on to study Monumental Sculpture at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. After completing his studies in the early 1950s he experienced a period of financial hardship and personal crisis. However, Beuys remained incredibly productive, making thousands of drawings in pencil, ink and oil paint. He often included the human figure in his drawings of the 1950s and early 1960s and his work increasingly addressed social and political ideas.
Demonstration: Hand focuses solely on the hand, presented here as a symbol of defiance. Made the same year as Beuys was appointed Professor of Monumental Sculpture at the Kunstakademie, the drawing also refers to the most basic way for humans to make their mark – the handprint. The hand on the left may be based around the dimensions of the artist’s own, but the hand to the right has a more animalistic feel, with the long fingers like claws.
In his first year as professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Beuys made significant changes by removing all entry requirements so anyone could join his classes. It was during this period that he first became affiliated with the recently formed Fluxus Group, an international collective with strong connections to Dada, which would act as a direct influence on Beuys’s first ventures in the realm of performance art. Fluxus stressed the importance of applying oneself to an unusually broad range of media, including painting, drawing, performance, sound art, sculpture, video, collage and poetry. Beuys held his first solo performance or ‘action’, Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare in 1965, where he sat in a store window, clad in felt and with a cast-iron sole tied to his right foot, while cradling a hare carcass which he spoke to for the duration of the performance. The work was a breakthrough for Beuys and instigated a growing fascination with him, from both the international art world and public alike.
This text was first published in Facing the World: Self Portraits from Rembrandt to Ai Weiwei (2016)
