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Joseph Beuys

Just hit the mark: Works from the Speck Collection

January 9–February 14, 2004
980 Madison Avenue, New York

Joseph Beuys: Just hit the mark: Works from the Speck Collection Installation view

Joseph Beuys: Just hit the mark: Works from the Speck Collection

Installation view

Joseph Beuys: Just hit the mark: Works from the Speck Collection Installation view

Joseph Beuys: Just hit the mark: Works from the Speck Collection

Installation view

Works Exhibited

Joseph Beuys, GroBer aufgesogener Liegender im Jenseits wollend gestreckter, 1982 Wood (frame of deckchair) and felt, 61 ½ × 26 × 2 inches (156 × 66 × 5.1 cm)

Joseph Beuys, GroBer aufgesogener Liegender im Jenseits wollend gestreckter, 1982

Wood (frame of deckchair) and felt, 61 ½ × 26 × 2 inches (156 × 66 × 5.1 cm)

Joseph Beuys, Notfalls leben wir auch ohne Herz, 1965–75 Brown drawing, two gilded laurel leaves, razor blade, EKG of Joseph Beuys and Braunkreuz with the stamp: Hauptstrom, 16 ½ × 10 ⅝ × 1 ⅝ inches (42 × 27 × 4 cm)

Joseph Beuys, Notfalls leben wir auch ohne Herz, 1965–75

Brown drawing, two gilded laurel leaves, razor blade, EKG of Joseph Beuys and Braunkreuz with the stamp: Hauptstrom, 16 ½ × 10 ⅝ × 1 ⅝ inches (42 × 27 × 4 cm)

Joseph Beuys, Durer ich fuhre personlich Baader + Meinhof durch die Documenta V, 1972 Chip board, wood, felt, fat, planks, c. 78 ¾ × 78 ¾ × 15 ¾ inches (200 × 200 × 40 cm)

Joseph Beuys, Durer ich fuhre personlich Baader + Meinhof durch die Documenta V, 1972

Chip board, wood, felt, fat, planks, c. 78 ¾ × 78 ¾ × 15 ¾ inches (200 × 200 × 40 cm)

Joseph Beuys, Ohne Titel (Hasenfrau), 1952 Pencil and iron chloride on paper, 19 ¾ × 19 ¾ inches (50 × 50 cm)

Joseph Beuys, Ohne Titel (Hasenfrau), 1952

Pencil and iron chloride on paper, 19 ¾ × 19 ¾ inches (50 × 50 cm)

Joseph Beuys, Wenn Du Dich schneidest, verbinde nicht den Finger sondern das Messer, 1962 Kitchen knife with band aid, Knife: 7 ⅛ inches (18 cm)

Joseph Beuys, Wenn Du Dich schneidest, verbinde nicht den Finger sondern das Messer, 1962

Kitchen knife with band aid, Knife: 7 ⅛ inches (18 cm)

About

The Gagosian Gallery in New York is pleased to present the second installment of a two-venue exhibition featuring significant works by Joseph Beuys in the collection of Dr. Reiner Speck. The exhibition first opened at the Gagosian Gallery in London in September 2003. The New York showing is scheduled to coincide with the thirty-year anniversary of Beuys's first trip to the United States, a three-city tour which began on January 9, 1974, in New York.

Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) is universally celebrated as one of the most important and revolutionary European artists of the last century. Through his creative project, Beuys blurred the boundaries between art and life, developing performances, installations, sculptures, and drawings within an intricate system of meaning. In his performances, Beuys explored the role of artist as shaman and engaged his audience in unprecedented, provocative ways. As his career progressed, Beuys advocated a "social sculpture", suggesting that his art could be a touchstone for revolutionary political change.

The profoundly experimental nature of his work established Beuys as a founding father of the German avant-garde. He was an influential teacher at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art who was loosely linked to the Fluxus movement, and his legacy continues to resonate with a new generation of artists working today in media ranging from sculpture to film.

Dr. Reiner Speck is a prominent Cologne-based physician and collector of contemporary art and antiquarian books. After meeting Beuys in the mid 1960s, Dr. Speck began to acquire the artist's work, and he continued to expand this important collection to the end of Beuys' life. The Speck Collection includes seminal works from every period of the artist's oeuvre, including early drawings and sculptures dating from the 1950s, as well as more complex objects and performance relics from Beuys' later years.

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