Schiefertafel (Blackboard), 1972

In Schiefertafel (Blackboard) Joseph Beuys transforms a simple blackboard into a work that bridges drawing, notation, and conceptual thinking. Printed in silkscreen on both sides, this edition recalls Beuys’s long-standing use of blackboards in his Aktionen and lectures, where they served not merely as surfaces for writing but as tools for dynamic communication, diagramming ideas and relationships in real time.

Blackboards played a key role in Beuys’s broader practice – appearing in performances and public lectures throughout the 1960s and 1970s – where drawing became a form of active, participatory exchange rather than static representation.

Schiefertafel (Blackboard) is held in the collections of The Broad, Los Angeles; Walker Art Museum, Minneapolis; the National Galleries of Scotland; Harvard Art Museums; and others.