Joseph Beuys Collection Bonnefantenmuseum Maastricht – II
JOSEPH BEUYS COLLECTION – II
BONNEFANTENMUSEUM MAASTRICHT
Joseph Beuys
(1921, Krefeld – 1986, Düsseldorf)
Undoubtedly the best-known and most controversial artist in post-war Germany is Joseph Beuys. With his equally famous and misunderstood quote: “Jeder Mensch ist ein Künstler” and his views on ‘social sculpture’, he placed art within the widest framework imaginable. Spiritual development and realisation and social change formed the drive behind this artistic position, which even went as far as founding an alternative political party (DSP) in 1967. The established order was his natural enemy, and in 1971, Beuys’ radical didactic views were to cost him the influential position he had held as professor at the Staatliche Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf for ten years.
Beuys’ oeuvre includes drawings, sculptures and installations, but his erweiterten Kunstbegriff was manifested mainly in ‘Aktionen’ (performances). In interaction with his audiences, the charismatic German artist carried out ritualistic actions, amidst carefully arranged objects and materials, thus giving shape to transitional situations and transformation processes. He is well-known for his use of felt and fat: felt as a symbol of life-giving warmth and security, and fat as a substance that is transformed from a solid to a liquid when heated. One explanation for this could be a traumatic experience as a pilot in World War II, when Beuys crash-landed in the Crimea and was saved by Tartars who rubbed him with fat and wrapped him in felt.
In 1975, Beuys was invited by the Bonnefantenmuseum to illustrate his position as an artist and teacher, and his opinions on the task of a work of art in his erweiterten Kunstbegriff, by way of an exhibition, a lecture and a discussion. The exhibition in the side room of the Bonnefantenklooster contained a practically complete overview of the publications associated with his activities. After setting up the exhibition, Beuys decided to donate all the documents on display to the museum. Nearly all the posters, exhibition catalogues, invitations and other material were signed by the artist, and by signing them, Beuys gave the documents a place in his oeuvre. The value of this collection lies not only in its completeness (nearly all the documents from the period 1960-1975 are represented, though they are not all on display at the moment), but also in the rarity of many of the publications.
One of the first signs of Beuys’ presence in Maastricht is a postcard from 1975; one of the many small printed items that he published in large editions as Originalgrafik. The postcard depicts Joseph Beuys with a pram, accompanied by the Antwerp diamond merchant, art collector and friend Isi Fiszman. There was a sequel to this card two years later, when Beuys made a multiple of a number of sheets that were rejected for technical reasons, on which were printed four cards each. Two hundred numbered and signed copies had a hand-written text on them: ‘wer nicht denken will fliegt raus’, and the Bonnefanten texts again appeared across all four pictures.
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