Zeichnungen von 1949–1969 - SIGNED

[Düsseldorf]: Galerie Schmela. [1972]. Signed and numbered catalog from the important Fluxus artist. [3] facsimile text pages giving Beuys' chronology, 57 black and white plates of his drawings. No. 34 of 500 numbered and signed copies. Original cloth backed blue wrappers. 4to (8.25 x 11.75 inches). Toning.

"Beuys is best known for his sculpture, with its many unorthodox mediums and materials, and for the “Actions” (performances) which made him one of the most visible figures in the art world. But it was in his drawings (generally agreed to exceed 10,000 sheets) that he diagrammed his ideas and first revealed his creative identity. Beuys often likened his drawings as a whole to an energy bank, a vital source of ideas [...] The spidery lines and emphatic markings, often depicting human and animal figures, are a response to the trauma of the war, an investigation of mythologies that might heal a divided world. As the artist himself often pointed out, they already embody crucial elements of his thinking: the universal cycle of birth, death, and rebirth; the fluctuation of the world between “cold” crystalline states and “warm” organic ones; and the unity of the spiritual and material worlds." (Notes to MoMa's exhibition "Thinking is Form: The Drawings of Joseph Beuys".) (17156)

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Signed Document/Item

Book

Art & Design

• Sold