Joseph Beuys

The German artist, teacher and art theorist Joseph Beuys (1921–1986) combines a regular drawing practice with actions and works in which felt and fat recur in particular—materials that sources link to his autobiographical narrative. After the war, he studies sculpture at the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts under Ewald Mataré. Appointed professor of sculpture at the academy in 1961, he begins a collaboration with Fluxus the following year. In 1965, he performs the action How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare in Düsseldorf.

Felt is central to Felt Suit (1970), held at Tate, and The Sled (1969), a work that also uses fat. Fat is also foregrounded in Fat Chair, dated 1964. The notion of “social sculpture” that he develops is associated with the idea of making art accessible to all. Among the documented drawings is Bewegung – Flüssigkeit (1979), described as a pencil drawing on paper, signed and dated in Basel on 22 April 1979.

His exhibition history includes his participation in 1969 in When Attitudes Become Form, organised at the Kunsthalle Bern; a retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York in 1979; and two invitations to the Venice Biennale, in 1976 and 1980. From 1972, invited to Bolognano by Lucrezia De Domizio and Buby Durini, he carries out Difesa della Natura there, an undertaking continued until 1985. In 1982, Piantagione Paradise takes shape there with the planting of 7,000 trees, presented as a biodiversity restoration project. Olivestone, dated 1984, also belongs to the works associated with this period.

Works recorded at auction

Lempertz · Lot 308

Untitled

Pencil on paper

Original catalogue wording

Ohne Titel
Bleistift auf Papier

Auction date : 2024-06-05

Published result : 3528 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 3000

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Lempertz · Lot 309

Untitled

Pencil on paper

Original catalogue wording

Ohne Titel
Bleistift auf Papier

Auction date : 2024-06-05

Published result : 11970 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 3000

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Lempertz · Lot 310

Untitled

Pencil on paper

Original catalogue wording

Ohne Titel
Bleistift auf Papier

Auction date : 2024-06-05

Published result : 3276 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 3000

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Lempertz · Lot 311

Untitled

Pencil on paper

Original catalogue wording

Ohne Titel
Bleistift auf Papier

Auction date : 2024-06-05

Published result : 4032 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 3000

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Lempertz · Lot 312

Untitled

Pencil on paper

Original catalogue wording

Ohne Titel
Bleistift auf Papier

Auction date : 2024-06-05

Published result : 7560 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 3000

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Lempertz · Lot 319

Untitled

Pencil on paper

Original catalogue wording

Ohne Titel
Bleistift auf Papier

Auction date : 2023-12-02

Published result : 18900 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 8000

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Lempertz · Lot 318

Der Reaktor Blutiger Adlerkopf

Öl (Braunkreuz) und Bleistift, mit Brotscheibe collagiert, auf Papier

Auction date : 2023-06-07

Published result : 18900 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 15000

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Lempertz · Lot 319

Untitled

Watercolour and pencil on paper

Original catalogue wording

Ohne Titel
Aquarell und Bleistift auf Papier

Auction date : 2023-06-07

Published result : 27720 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 15000

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Lempertz · Lot 320

Zwei Mädchen

Bleistift auf Karton

Auction date : 2023-06-07

Published result : 7560 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 7000

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Lempertz · Lot 331

Wechselstromaggregat

Bleistift auf Pappkarton mit zwei runden Fettballen

Auction date : 2023-06-07

Published result : 42840 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 20000

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Lempertz · Lot 342

Untitled

Oil on paper

Original catalogue wording

Ohne Titel
Öl auf Papier

Auction date : 2023-06-07

Published result : 12600 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 8000

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Lempertz · Lot 344

Frau mit kleinem Hirsch und Käfig

Pencil on paper

Original catalogue wording

Frau mit kleinem Hirsch und Käfig
Bleistift auf Papier

Auction date : 2023-06-07

Published result : 22680 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 15000

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Lempertz · Lot 393

Zwei bedeutende Stellen

Zeichnung und Fett auf Karton

Auction date : 2021-06-18

Published result : 5000 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 6000

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Lempertz · Lot 397

Untitled

Bleistift und Fett auf Karton

Original catalogue wording

Ohne Titel
Bleistift und Fett auf Karton

Auction date : 2021-06-18

Published result : 9375 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 10000

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Lempertz · Lot 24

Chlorophyll-Labor

Watercolour and pencil on paper

Original catalogue wording

Chlorophyll-Labor
Aquarell und Bleistift auf Papier

Auction date : 2021-06-17

Published result : 18750 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 15000

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Lempertz · Lot 279

Ziege

Bleistift auf Bütten

Auction date : 2020-06-20

Published result : 17500 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 12000

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Lempertz · Lot 280

Untitled

Öl auf Pergaminpapier, collagiert, auf rückseitig bedrucktem gerissenen Papier

Original catalogue wording

Ohne Titel
Öl auf Pergaminpapier, collagiert, auf rückseitig bedrucktem gerissenen Papier

Auction date : 2020-06-20

Published result : 47500 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 8000

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Kornfeld · Lot 644

Untitled

Pencil drawing

Original catalogue wording

Ohne Titel
Bleistiftzeichnung

Catalogue period : 2019-06-13

Published result : 7000 CHF

Hammer price, excluding fees

Estimate : CHF 10000

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Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer · Lot 312

Movement — Fluidity, 1979

Pencil on paper

Original catalogue wording

Bewegung – Flüssigkeit, 1979
Bleistift auf Papier

Catalogue period : 2018-06-20

Published result : 3646 CHF

Fees not specified in the available data

Estimate : CHF 3000–4000

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Lempertz · Lot 604

Torso

Aquarell auf Papier, collagiert, auf Karton

Auction date : 2017-12-02

Published result : 27280 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 15000

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Lempertz · Lot 711

Eisentisch

Pencil on paper

Original catalogue wording

Eisentisch
Bleistift auf Papier

Auction date : 2016-06-04

Published result : 9300 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 8000

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Lempertz · Lot 600

Amazone

Pencil on paper

Original catalogue wording

Amazone
Bleistift auf Papier

Auction date : 2015-11-28

Published result : 34720 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 18000

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