Joseph Beuys

Joseph Beuys (German: [ˈjoːzɛf ˈbɔʏs]; 12 May 1921 – 23 January 1986) was a German Fluxus, happening and performance artist as well as a sculptor, installation artist, graphic artist, art theorist and pedagogue of art.

His extensive work is grounded in concepts of humanism, social philosophy and anthroposophy; it culminates in his "extended definition of art" and the idea of social sculpture as a gesamtkunstwerk, for which he claimed a creative, participatory role in shaping society and politics. His career was characterized by passionate, even acrimonious public debate. He is now regarded as one of the most influential artists of the second half of the 20th century.

Biography

Childhood and early life in the Third Reich (1921–1941)

Joseph Beuys was born in Krefeld, the son of the merchant Josef Jakob Beuys (1888–1958) and Johanna Maria Margarete Beuys (born Hülsermann, 1889–1974). The parents had moved from Geldern to Krefeld in 1910, and Beuys was born there on 12 May 1921. In autumn of that year the family moved to Kleve, an industrial town in the Lower Rhine region of Germany, close to the Dutch border. There, Joseph attended primary school (Katholische Volksschule) and secondary school (Staatliches Gymnasium Cleve, now the Freiherr-vom-Stein-Gymnasium). His teachers considered him to have a talent for drawing; he also took piano and cello lessons. On several occasions he visited the studio of the Flemish painter and sculptor Achilles Moortgat. Other interests of note include Nordic history and mythology and especially the natural sciences. According to his own account, when the Nazi Party staged their book-burning in Kleve on 19 May 1933 in the courtyard of his school, he salvaged the book Systema Naturae by Carl Linnaeus "...from that large, flaming pile".

Podcasts:

Famous quotes by Joseph Beuys:

"I think the tree is an element of regeneration which in itself is a concept of time."
"I wish to go more and more outside to be among the problems of nature and problems of human beings in their working places."
"I wished to go completely outside and to make a symbolic start for my enterprise of regenerating the life of humankind within the body of society and to prepare a positive future in this context."
"Every man is an artist."
"Let's talk of a system that transforms all the social organisms into a work of art, in which the entire process of work is included... something in which the principle of production and consumption takes on a form of quality. It's a Gigantic project."
PLAYLIST TIME:

Sonne Statt Reagan

by: Joseph Beuys

Aus dem Land
Das sich selbst zerstört
Und uns den "way of life" Diktiert
Da kommt Reagan und bringt Waffen und Tod
Und hört er Frieden
Sieht er rot.
Er sagt als Präsident von USA
Atomkrieg ? - Ja
Bitte
Dort und da
Ob Polen
Mittler Osten
Nicaragua
Er will den Endsieg
Das ist doch klar.
Doch wir wollen: Sonne statt Reagan
Ohne Rüstung leben !
Ob West
Ob Ost
Auf Raketen muß Rost !
Wir wollen: Sonne statt Reagan
Ohne Rüstung leben !
Ob West
Ob Ost
Auf Raketen muß Rost !
Er will die Säcke im Osten reizen
Die auch nicht mit Atomen geizen
Doch dein Krieg um hirnverbrannte Ziele
Der läuft nicht Reagan - wir sind viele !
Hau ab mit deinen Nuklearstrategen
Deinen Russenhassern
Deinem Strahlenregen
Mensch Knitterface
Der Film ist aus
Nimm' die Raketen mit nach Haus !
Denn wir wollen: Sonne statt Reagan
Ohne Rüstung leben !
Ob Ost
Ob West
Kalten Kriegern die Pest !
Wir wollen: Sonne statt Reagan
Ohne Rüstung leben !
Ob Ost
Ob West
Kalten Kriegern die Pest !
Dieser Reagan kommt als Mann der Rüstungsindustrie
But the peoples of the States don't want it - nie !
Und den wahren Frieden wird's erst geben
Wenn alle Menschen ohne Waffen leben.
Wir wollen: Sonne statt Reagan
Ohne Rüstung leben !
Ob West
Ob Ost
Auf Raketen muß Rost !
Sonne statt Reagan
Ohne Rüstung leben !
Ob Ost
Ob West




Latest News for: joseph beuys

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The Paley Archive, Arcangelo Corelli and Atomic Café: L.A. arts and culture this weekend

The Los Angeles Times 21 Mar 2025
Another reason to visit the Beverly Hills Public Library ... 'María Magdalena Campos-Pons ... Getty Center, 1200 Getty Center Dr, Brentwood ... Sunday ... cap.ucla.edu 🎵 Intuition Festival An eclectic two-night event inspired by the current exhibition “Joseph Beuys.
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‘Joseph Beuys: In Defense of Nature’ Review: Overgrown Overview

Wall Street Journal 14 Mar 2025
An exhibition at the Broad goes beyond the German artist’s ecological projects, offering an expansive if incomplete portrait of his life and work ... .
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Capitalism and the Lexicon of Loneliness

Dissident Voice 07 Mar 2025
Giorgio de Chirico, Solitude, 1917. I need to be alone ...Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer. Deep down, we struggle to come upon accurate words to describe the terrible beauty of our aloneness ... Joseph Beuys, I Like America and America Likes Me, 19781.
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