Today we’re going to spread out our woollen blanket, light ninety birthday candles and sing a birthday serenade for the creative all-rounder Joseph Beuys (1921-1986). After all, the artist, teacher and political activist would have been ninety years old today. And, for this anniversary, two fine illustrated books by the established art book publishers Schirmer/Mosel have been issued to coincide with two consecutive exhibitions at Schellmann Art Munich.
The first book, entitled “Ich (ich selbst die Iphigenie)”, gets to the bottom of one of the most visually stunning Beuys actions from Experimenta 3 in 1969: when Beuys stood on the stage in a fur coat with a spectral white horse in Goethe’s “Iphigenia in Tauris”. Book two shows objects, sculptures and prints from the period between 1970 and 1986 and primarily deals with the use of colour in Beuys’ work. And some of the grey-brown felt, cardboard, wood, iron, sulphur, blood and butter pieces, which at first glance seem sullen and muted, actually turn out to be a lot more colourful than initially assumed. Our recommendation of the day!
