Beuys

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Beuys

Artist Joseph Beuys (German, 1921-1986)

Publisher Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach, 1967 (Johannes Cladders)

Printer Graphisches Kunstanstalt Schagen & Eschen, Mönchengladbach

Author Hans Strelow

Date1967

DimensionsBox: H: 8 1/4 in. (210 mm); W: 6 3/4 (172 mm); Depth: 1 1/4 in. (31 mm).
Page: H: 7 11/16 in. (195 mm); W: 6 1/8 in. (156 mm).
Element: H: 7 11/16 in. (195 mm); W: 6 1/8 in. (156 mm); Depth: 1/4 in. (7 mm).
Element: H: 6 1/16 in. (154 mm); W: 83 1/8 in. (2111 mm).
Element: H: 6 1/6 in. (154 mm); W: 92 in. (2337 mm).

MediumOriginal object: hand stamping with brown paint on cut gray felt. Reproductions: photolithographs of photographs, drawings and paintings on white wove paper. Text: letterpress (pamphlet) and photolithography on white wove paper (typeface: Helvetica).

ClassificationBooks

Credit LineGift of Molly and Walter Bareiss

Object number

1984.268

Not on View

Label TextJoseph Beuys Multiples While in the German air force during World War II, Joseph Beuys almost died in a plane crash in the frozen Crimean peninsula in the Ukraine. He survived because someone wrapped him in felt and an insulating layer of animal fat. As a result of this experience, these materials later became recurring motifs in his works, symbolizing warmth. They also symbolize spiritual warmth, the genesis of change, and/or a spiritual awakening. After the war Beuys became an artist, teaching at the Düsseldorf Academy beginning in 1961. Eleven years later the administration dismissed him because of his unorthodox teaching methods. In response, Beuys founded his own school, the Free International University, where he could teach and create art. Part of his theories of freedom and democracy included the production of multiples—a work of art that could be reproduced many times. With his multiples, Beuys hoped his art and his ideas would reach a large number of people. Beuys often used commonplace materials and drab colors, believing they would evoke a colorful world within the viewer. For him, it did not matter if the multiples were not easily or fully understood. He said, “…the multiples are often quite minimal allusions, just suggestions.” Publisher: Johannes Cladders, Städtisches Museum Abteiberg Carl Andre, Carl Andre (1968) Joseph Beuys, Beuys. Text by Hans Strelow (1967) Jasper Johns, Jasper Johns: Das graphische Werke, 1960–1970 (Jasper Johns: The Graphic Works, 1960–1970). Texts by Johannes Cladders, Carlo Huber, and Jasper Johns (1971) Artist Carl Andre sent us the following statement about his catalogue for Johannes Cladders: “The Box/Announcement for my 1968 Mönchengladbach show was entirely the brainchild of Dr. Johannes Cladders…. I hated it. I could not convince Dr. Cladders to withdraw it. So I insisted on writing a text, in the form of a dialogue with myself… My text is the only element of the box having any bearing on my work. Aside from his pet box, I have only the greatest admiration for Dr. Cladders. The boxes he made for other artists’ shows tended to be quite useful for understanding their art.” These are some of the 33 “Kassettenkataloges” (“Box catalogues”) made by Dr. Joseph Cladders from 1967 to 1978 for exhibitions at the Städtisches Museum Abteiberg in Mönchengladbach, Germany. Beuys was the first of these one-man shows. Cladders and Joseph Beuys collaborated on all aspects of this show. Instead of a traditional catalogue, they chose a cardboard box—a common object whose contents could easily change with each show. It became the standard for all future projects. The boxes were produced in a numbered edition and sold, rather than given away. For the first exhibition, 330 were made and they sold out quickly. Jasper Johns’s box was produced in an edition of 550 and also sold out. Many of these boxes are quite rare today.Published Referencescf. Ruhé, Harry, Multiples, et cetera. Amsterdam: Tuja Books, 1991, p. 11

cf. Schellmann, Jörg, Bernd Klüsser, editors, Joseph Beuys, Multiples. Catalogue raisonné of Multiples and Prints, 1965--80, New York, 1980, no. 4.

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, Splendid Pages: The Molly and Walter Bareiss Collection of Modern Illustrated Books, Feb. 14--May 11, 2003.