Postkarten Joseph Beuys, Edition Staeck, Heidelberg, Germany, 1974.
Entfernter Schauplatz, Photobuch in 50 Bildern, Darsteller: Joseph Beuys Volker Wilczek, Verlag Hubert Kretschmer, Munich / Frankfurt, Germany, 1980. Signed and numbered. This work is number 63 from the edition of 100.
The following comprehensive private sale of artist’s books and ephemera represents a pinnacle of awareness and compassion in collecting. Any reference library is forever bolstered by the infusion of the loosely defined printed matter section: the oft-hidden editions that, masterfully, if not slyly, reveal the artists’ personal connection to their own art. These compact and portable treatises emerge as artworks in their own right, replicated and shared in small or large runs.
If it is possible to build a library through careful deliberation and random encounter at play simultaneously, it has been done here—this library was beloved and cherished.
Here at present we have a remarkable atlas, of both artists and collectors. The printed passageways featured in Artists' Books & Ephemera offer a glimpse into each artist’s unique, democratic application of their ideas through hybrid, handheld, shareable art. Collecting is truly a lifestyle and an art of its own; every single artist presented here has a special connection to the sellers. If it is possible to build a library through careful deliberation and random encounter at play simultaneously, it has been done here—this library was beloved and cherished.
Logistically, the sheer volume of primary information contained within each title is impressive. Here we are confronted with the spectacular rawness of each artist’s specific output. The tensions between intricacy and simplicity remain forever entertaining. One ought to fall deeper in love with the artist through this display of tenderness and the depth of philosophy that each piece affords.
Outstanding examples pepper this collection, among them: Martin Kippenberger books doctored with scribbles, hastily drawn in his frenetic energy; numerous books by Lawrence Weiner, with his signature typeface. Delving deeper, we encounter rare Jan Bas Ader publications, a Marcel Broodthaers Magic Slate multiple (so fragile are his signatures on this piece!), outstanding Conceptual art publications and a Dieter Roth Hansjorg Mayer collection, alongside his editioned multiples–heady and stout but quirky and irreverent.
The collection goes deeper with Jill Magid’s documentation logs, Christian Marclay’s unplayable records, or Kiki Smith’s Tidal–an accordion-folded lunar masterpiece. A bold and exhaustive undertaking by Alighiero Boetti classifying the planet’s one thousand longest rivers is harshly contrasted by Xerox-borne reproduction documents from Steven Leiber.
Among larger group lots, we find a large collection of Imprint 93 publications, an art project started by Matthew Higgs. Another lot contains forty-two publications from Hanuman Books artist’s series in miniature–pure gems! There are numerous editioned works published by Monchengladbach featuring the likes of Blinky Palermo, Piero Manzoni, Jannis Kounellis, Carl Andre, Hanne Darboven, and James Lee Byars. Jenny Holzer shirts and stockings from the now-defunct Barney’s New York are joined by an Allen Ruppersberg’s Al’s Café ephemera group, which is presented alongside a nice selection of his artist’s books.
Several group lots focused on rare exhibition catalogs, monographs on Minimalism, comics (an entire lot is devoted to R. Crumb and his psychotic glory), short-lived publications, a collection of Destroy All Monsters material, Ex Libris Bookplates, and much more. There is hardly a limit to the charm of this collection.
Ultimately, each book, pamphlet, comic, fold, crease, and scribble coalesce into a powerful map of the minds and passion of the collectors behind Artists' Books & Ephemera.
Ultimately, each book, pamphlet, comic, fold, crease, and scribble coalesce into a powerful map of the minds and passion of the collectors behind Artists' Books & Ephemera. Our own individual predilections and fascinations make the story of this material timeless and, indeed, endless. It has been an honor to swim in this printed ocean, coming up for air only when strictly necessary.
All of these carefully vetted lots are mean to engage and excite the viewer, letting the collection blossom in texture and character. This–the infinite magic granted to us by such a library–is as profound as it is enlightening.
—Peter Jefferson, Senior Specialist
Joseph Beuys 1921–1986
Known for his pioneering performance and visual works of art as much for his theological teachings, Joseph Beuys is widely recognized as one of the most influential artists of the latter half of the 20th century.
Born in Krefeld, Germany in 1921, Beuys grew up amidst a tumultuous period in German history. At 22, he joined the German Air Force, volunteering as a pilot in the Luftwaffe during WWII. According to his personal legend, his plane was shot down over Crimea and he was found and saved by a group of Tatars. His rescuers, Beuys would later recount, stripped him naked, smeared him with grease, placed him on a sled and wrapped him in felt to keep him warm before nursing him back to health. Whether or not events played out the way Beuys asserted, the plane crash would come to influence his art for the rest of his life, with grease, felt and sleds becoming themes that he would revisit again and again.
After the war ended, Beuys returned to his family in Krefeld and decided to leave his earlier studies in biology in favor of art. He and his family relocated to Düsseldorf where Beuys began his education at the Kunstakademie, eventually becoming a professor at the school. While there, he developed a reputation as a radical and unconventional teacher. He believed that the spiritual could be studied with the same depth and intensity that modern science applies to the physical world but also saw education as being instrumental to political engagement. His lectures became his first, and what Beuys later considered his greatest, works of performance art.
Beuys and his students engaged in deep cultural dialogue alongside creative instruction, organizing their own political group while practicing the concept of “social sculpture”, the idea that life was one ongoing work of art. By this time Beuys had become a key figure in the Fluxus movement and was deeply involved in the avant-garde art scene of the 1960s and 1970s. Through his ties to the art world and his position at the school, he ushered in a new generation of German artists that sought to abolish the boundaries between art and life and who viewed art as a conduit for social revolution.
To this end, Beuys used editioned works to disseminate his ideas, ultimately creating more than 600 prints and multiples. Today though, he is best known for his performance pieces including How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare (1965), I Like America and America Likes Me (1974), and 7,000 Oaks (1982).
Joseph Beuys passed away on January 23, 1986, but his legacy continues to influence contemporary art and thought. His innovative use of materials, dedication to social and environmental issues, and his belief in the transformative power of art have left an indelible mark on the art world, making him a pivotal figure that continues to fascinate viewers and capture the public imagination.
Auction Results Joseph Beuys
