Zeichnungen zu Codices Madrid von Leonardo da Vinci II (Drawings for Codices Madrid by Leonardo da Vinci II), 1975
Book with 81 bound-in and 1 loose granolithograph, folded; print 23 x 32 cm (9 x 12½ in). Print is signed and numbered, 9 different images. Edition of 100 each.
Schellmann 177-185
This lithograph book edition comprises Joseph Beuys’s response to the two rediscovered Codices Madrid by Leonardo da Vinci, published in facsimile in 1974. Across 81 lithographs after his pencil drawings, Beuys creates a dialogue with Leonardo’s notebooks while highlighting their differences. His finely drawn landscapes, bodies, and occasional machine-like forms trace energetic flows rather than precise descriptions, reflecting an intuitive, symbolic approach in contrast to Leonardo’s analytical method. The unorthodox cardboard cover – modeled after an American school notebook – underscores the work’s intended circulation as an accessible multiple rather than a private sketchbook.
The work is part of the collections of The Broad, Los Angeles; Harvard Art Museums; the National Galleries of Scotland; and the Bavarian State Painting Collections.
