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1921 - 1986
Who was Joseph Beuys?
Joseph Beuys was an influential German artist involved in conceptual, performance, and visual arts, and a member of the experimental Fluxus movement of the 1960s and 70s. He was born in 1921 in Krefeld, Germany, and developed an interest in the arts and natural sciences early on, eventually joining the German air force at the age of 19. Having been wounded in WWII he spent a decade recovering on a friend’s farm and coming to terms with his involvement in the war, and dedicating himself to artistic practice. In 1947, he studied at the Düsselsorf Art Academy and eventually became a professor of ‘monumental sculpture’ in 1961, after years of also producing thousands of drawings. He joined the Fluxus group alongside Nam June Paik and George Maciunas, and was known for his philosophical ideas of making art more accessible and democratic by blurring the line between life and art.
One of his most famous performances, I Like America and America Likes Me (1974), consisted of Beuys locked in a New York City gallery with a coyote over three days, wearing only layers of felt and sporting a cane. He was transported to and from the gallery in an ambulance, and said of the piece: “I wanted to isolate myself, insulate myself, see nothing of America other than the coyote.” He also participated in social sculpture and land art, where he planted 7,000 oak trees with volunteers in Kassel, Germany, for documenta 7 in 1982, using art to affect environmental and social change. Beuys died of heart failure in Düsselsorf in 1986.
Joseph Beuys's most famous artworksBuy an artwork inspired by Joseph Beuys
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Beuy’s work has been exhibited at prestigious galleries throughout Europe and the United States. He had major retrospectives at the Guggenheim in 1979 and the Tate Modern in 2005.
Today, you can find his work at the MoMA, the Tate Gallery, The Art Institute of Chicago, and the Walker Art Center. His most famous works and performances include I Like America and America Likes Me (1974), How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare (1965), Felt Suit (1970), and 7000 Oaks (1982).
Felt Suit
1970
How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare
1965
I Like America and America Likes Me
1974Artists similar to Joseph Beuys
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