Beuys Joseph

Biography

Joseph Heinrich Beuys (May 12, 1921 – January 23, 1986) was an influential German artist known for his drawing, sculpture, performance, and theory. Politically engaged, he also created a personal mythology around his life. From childhood, Beuys showed an interest in music and nature. He joined the Hitler Youth in 1936, then enlisted in the Luftwaffe during World War II. Beuys recounts surviving a plane crash in Crimea thanks to the care of Tatar nomads, a legend that he incorporates into his work through materials such as grease and felt.
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After the war, Beuys enrolled at the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts, where he became a student of Ewald Mataré and was inspired by the theories of Rudolf Steiner. He distinguished himself by his numerous creations of funerary monuments and by his practice of drawing, which he considered a universal activity. Beuys became an emblematic figure of the international art scene in the 1960s by joining the Fluxus movement. He is recognized for his remarkable performances, notably "How to Explain Paintings to a Dead Hare" in 1965.
In the 1970s, he promoted the idea of ​​"social sculpture", defining art as a tool for collective transformation. Politically engaged, he founded several organizations and actively participated in the founding of the environmentalist party Die Grünen. Beuys is also known for his provocative performances such as "I like America and America likes Me" in 1974, in which he shared a space with a coyote. His work is characterized by the use of symbolic materials and a reflection on social and personal wounds.