THE COLLECTION
Joseph Beuys (German, 1921–1986)
Untitled I
- Date:
- 1962-81
- Medium:
- Glass, wood, and metal display case containing (left to right): Monuments/4 Chocolate Detonations (Monumente/4 Schokoladensprengungen), c. 1964: chocolate; Untitled, 1962: dried meat, paint, and chocolate; Untitled, 1977: slate; Rose for Direct Democracy (Rose für direkte Demokratie), 1973: rose and graduated cylinder; Untitled, 1964: wood board, oil paint, laundry line, clothes pins, wax toenail, hair, fat, felt, tin can cover, tar, and iron weight; Untitled, c. 1963, metal rod and wax; Action German Student Party (Aktion Deutsche Studentenpartei), 1968: paper, printed paper, glass jar, rosemary, and essential oils, in three parts; Neck (Hals), 1981: stem of a plant and glass bottle
- Dimensions:
- 79 x 91 1/2 x 26 1/2" (200.7 x 232.4 x 67.3 cm)
- Credit Line:
- Gift of Maja Oeri and Hans Bodenmann
- MoMA Number:
- 1150.2007.a
- Copyright:
- © 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Focus: Joseph Beuys
2008
These vitrines typify the unique way Beuys formed ensembles of his work for individual collectors. They include a diverse array of sculptures made between 1948 and 1982 involving found objects, felt or fat, and other organic materials. Their formal associations stem from the rhythm of echoing shapes, colors, or configurations. Many of these items are relics from the public performances, or "actions," that were a central part of Beuys's practice.
The original owner of the vitrines worked closely in concert with Beuys both in building his collection over the course of twenty years and finalizing its presentation in these glass cases in 1982. Beuys designed each vitrine to evoke the thick, heavy body and long spindly legs of a stag, an animal that, along with the hare, he often employed as an alter-ego. Here the vitrines are installed in slightly irregular fashion, an implicit reference to their potential for animation.
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