Joseph BeuysGerman, 1921–1986Main Current (Hauptstrom)
May one see it?
Not receiving at present
The Museum of Modern Art
New York, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- Source
- The museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- 1284.2005
In the catalog
Sources
- The Museum of Modern Art
- Image: The Museum of Modern Art — © the artist or rights holder
Meanwhile, in the life of Joseph Beuys
The whole life1960s
Forms the idea of “social sculpture”
Drawing on Novalis and Schiller and on Rudolf Steiner's ideas of social threefolding, Beuys developed the concept of social sculpture: society as a whole is one great work of art to which everyone can contribute creatively (“everyone is an artist”).
26 November 1965
First solo exhibition in a private gallery
The show opened with an action involving a dead hare: Beuys, his face covered in honey and gold leaf, murmured explanations of the drawings on the walls to the animal while viewers watched through the gallery window; some critics called the photograph with the hare a new Mona Lisa of the 20th century.
1967
Founds a party made up of students
In June 1967, during a student demonstration in West Berlin, a participant died after a clash with the police; in response Beuys created a political party made up solely of students, demanding student self-government and free admission to university for anyone who wished.
27 June 1968 – 6 October 1968
Exhibition: 4. documenta
1969
Calls teaching his greatest work
In a 1969 Artforum interview with Willoughby Sharp, Beuys added to his famous statement that teaching is his greatest work of art: the rest is merely waste product and demonstration.
