Joseph Beuys

Pearwood and ebony, with drawer, 75 x 83.5 x 64.5 cm. Limited to an edition of 9.

In 1953, Joseph Beuys designed three different tables and a bookshelf for a collector in Düsseldorf. Beuys expanded the first Monk table into a work of art and later integrated it into the legendary Block Beuys collection in the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt. The three tables and the bookshelf were first published in an edition of 9 in 2008.

Pearwood and ebony. 55 x 92 x 65 cm. Limited to an edition of 9.

Originally designed in 1953 for a collector in Düsseldorf, this table was first published as an edition of 9 pieces in 2008.

Pitch Pine, with two drawers. 76 x 133 x 57.5 cm. Limited to an edition of 9.

Originally designed in 1953 for a collector in Düsseldorf, this table was first published as an edition of 9 pieces in 2008.

Pitch Pine bookshelf. 266 x 220 x 34 cm. Limited to an edition of 9.

Originally designed in 1953 for a collector in Düsseldorf, this shelf was first published as an edition of 9 pieces in 2008.

Metal tripod, ceramic socket and metal reflector. Height adjustable from 75 to 210 cm.

Joseph Beuys made this lamp in 1960 for his studio in Düsseldorf, Drakeplatz 4. Originally created out of necessity, Joseph Beuys used it for over thirty years.

EUR 1,800

Facsimile edition of Beuys' sketchbooks. Granolithographs in 4-12 colors, 1168 pages in total, thereof 454 with entries by Beuys. Each book 30 x 22 x 1.8 cm (12 x 8½ x¾ in). Edition of 365, stamp-numbered on one of the last pages.

From 1958 to around 1965, Joseph Beuys worked on four sketchbooks, which he compiled under the title Projekt Westmensch. The pages of these books, which truly show the full range of his artistic output, are filled with drawings, texts, watercolors, lists of words and terms, concepts and themes with numerous notes for future projects. While many of the pages are directly related to his other works, there are some quite enigmatic forms, conceptual references and codes that present a fascinating challenge to both the viewer and professional art historians. The rhythm of the entries, which are often separated by long series of blank pages, gives a very intimate insight into the visual language of Joseph Beuys and his universal thinking.

EUR 2,500

Set of 3 lithographs, each print 76 x 56 cm (30 x 22 in). Edition of 90, each signed and numbered.
a Geschnatter unterhalb der Hütte (Chattering below the hut), b Sternbild des Bären (Sternbild des Bären), c Junger Elch über dem Haus des alten Müllers (Young moose above the old miller's house)

Transsibirische Bahn Film (16 mm, black and white, sound, 22 min.), in metal tin with railway labels, 3 cm x 37 cm Ø. Edition: 45 (+ 8 A.P.), signed and stamp-numbered on label.

The film documents an eponymous performance by Joseph Beuys in Humlebaek/Copenhagen in 1961/70, filmed by Ole John.

Photographic negatives, one with two holes and marked with crosses in brown paint, between a transparent and an opaque glass plate in iron frame, 107 x 79 x 5 cm. Photographs by Ute Klophaus. Edition of 28 + VI, signed and numbered on paper tag attached verso on the piece. Some A.P., signed; + 5 H.C., signed and stamp-numbered on paper tag stamped Hauptstrom and sandwiched between glass plates.  

In 1976, Joseph Beuys created the installation Zeige deine Wunde (Show Your Wound) for the Schellmann and Klüser Gallery in Munich. The work consisted of several objects arranged in pairs, grouped around the central element – a pair of mortuary tables. Later, while looking at the exhibition photographs, Beuys came up with the idea of mounting the negatives like “X-ray images” on an opalescent pane of glass for an edition. One film remained black and had two holes in it, reminiscent of an obscura camera – a reference to trauma, diagnosis and the medium of photography itself.

Lithograph, 65 x 85 cm (25½ x 33½ in). Edition of 185, signed and numbered.

The symbols on this Paris metro map refer to Gallic initiation rituals.

Oil paint and butter on rag paper, torn hole, 76 x 56 cm (30 x 22 in). Edition of 90, each unique, signed and numbered

This edition comprises 90 works hand-painted by Joseph Beuys, each differing slightly in the painting structure and the shape of the sheep's heads.

Book with 81 bound-in and 1 loose grano lithograph, folded; print 23 x 32 cm (9 x 12½ in). Print is signed and numbered, 9 different images. Edition of 100 each.

Zinc box with photograph, camera, felt. 41 x 30.5 x 15.5 cm, edition of 24 + V, signed and numbered. 
Schellmann 72

This edition features a photograph taken by Michael Ruetz, depicting the Beuys family watching the science fiction TV series Starship Enterprise. At the time, the family lived at Drakeplatz 4 in Düsseldorf, where their apartment and studio functioned as a shared space for work and life. Beuys covered the lens of the camera embedded in the lid of the zinc box with a felt disc, echoing his action Filz-TV, in which he obscured a television screen with felt. With this gesture, he responds to the "mechanical" gaze of the camera, transforming its outward view into an inward one through the insulating properties of felt. Inside the zinc box, two objects are mounted in the double strategy of parallel processes often employed by Beuys, both engaging with the act of seeing: television itself, the family captured by the camera and the photographer's eye, who in turn watch a film set in the future, and a handy box camera, whose function is altered by covering its lense, shifting its role from capturing an image to questioning the nature of vision itself. 

Blackboard, printed in silkscreen on both sides, stamped "Hauptstrom". 17 x 25 x 0.3 cm. Edition of 200, signature engraved on lined side of blackboard, unnumbered. 
Schellmann 52

Linen box containing a Super 8 film, b/w, 25 with sound track b 10 photographs b/w 50 x 40 cm ea. c bottle with gelatin sealed with beeswax 16.5 x 8.5 cm Ø (6½ x 3¼ in dia.). Box: Stamped with brown paint, 41 x 52.5 x 10 cm. (The edition first came in a cardboard box; only the last part of the edition came in a linen box as shown here, but many of the earlier cardboard boxes were later exchanged against the linen one.) Edition: 100, signed and numbered on label in box.

This edition contains the documentation of the performance Celtic + ~~~~~ in Basel, civil defense bunker, April 5, 1971, as well as a small bottle filled with gelatine, which Joseph Beuys used during the action and which has since liquefied.

Felt, tape recording. 15 x 25 x 25 cm. Edition of 100, with 32 min. tape recording. With facsimile signature and numbering blind-stamped in reel; numbered. 
Schellmann 14 (Edition A)

This edition by Joseph Beuys is a sound installation consisting of a stack of 20 felt plates in which a tape is embedded. The recording documents a Fluxus performance from 1968 in which Beuys, together with Henning Christiansen and Johannes Stüttgen, rhythmically repeated the words "Ja" ("yes) and "Nee" (“no”) for almost an hour. The monotonous, mantra-like recitation creates a hypnotic effect that takes the listener out of the usual stream of thought. The felt panels reinforce this meditative effect by creating an atmosphere of rapture through their isolating and calm presence.