in online exhibition 55 Years of Schellmann Art
Sonnenscheibe (Sun Disc), 1973
Record master-mould (copper, nickel plated on incised side) with hole punched in the center, and two pieces of felt, each stamped with brown paint, in black cardboard box with label, 38 x 38 x 4 cm (15 x 15 x 1½ in). Edition: 77 (+ VII + 3 H.C.), signed and numbered on label on the box.
Schellmann 85
In his Sun Disc edition, Joseph Beuys distills one of his central metaphors – the sun as a source of energy, warmth, and renewal – into a pared-down, symbolic form. The circular disc, marked by Beuys’s characteristic use of materials and reductive gesture, reflects his belief in the transformative power of elemental forces.
Throughout his practice, Beuys associated the sun with creative and spiritual potential, linking natural energy to his wider concept of soziale Plastik, in which art becomes a catalyst for individual and collective change. Sonnenscheibe echoes this thinking: an object that appears simple yet carries the charge of Beuys’s broader philosophical project.
Sonnenscheibe is in the collections of The Broad, Los Angeles; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Harvard Art Museums; and the National Galleries of Scotland, among others.
