8 - Joseph Beuys

Joseph Beuys Strandläufer 1958/1961 Gouache on folded paper 60 x 48 cm. Framed under glass. Signed and dated 'Beuys 1958' and signed, dated and titled 'Beuys 1961 Strandläufer' (signature and date covered by the top sheet). - Traces of studio and minor traces of age. Provenance Rolf Jährling Collection, Galerie Parnass, Wuppertal; private collection, Monaco Exhibitions Paris 1982 (Goethe-Institut), Bourges (Musées de la Ville), London (Goethe-Institut), Crossroads Parnass, International Avant-Garde at Galerie Parnass, Treffpunkt Parnass, Wuppertal 1949-1965, exhib.cat., p.17 Wuppertal 1980 (Kunst- und Museumsverein im Von der Heydt-Museum), Treffpunkt Parnass, Wuppertal 1949-1965, exhib.cat.no.18 In the present work, ‘Strandläufer’, by Joseph Beuys, a slender, vertically rising figure takes shape from reddish-brown brushstrokes. Short, horizontal strokes form a ladder-like structure that runs through the figure from head to toe. In the upper part, they are closely spaced and overlap, whilst towards the bottom, they open up into individual rungs. At the foot, fine, claw-like lines fan out to the right. Next to it, a broad, grey band extends horizontally to the right edge of the sheet. The title refers to a small wading bird that travels long distances as a migratory bird; the figure itself hovers between animal and figurative form. Beuys did not seek to create typical depictions of the animal. According to Paul Wember, he was rather interested in “the nomadic element in animals” (Paul Wember, Joseph Beuys: Drawings, in Joseph Beuys, exhib.cat., Kestner-Gesellschaft Hannover, Hanover 1975, p. 10). The sheet is signed and dated 1958; the drawing was later signed and dated in 1961 as was the case with many early drawings that Beuys did not name until they were made public. The work formerly belonged to the collection of Rolf Jährling, whose Galerie Parnass in Wuppertal was one of the most important venues of the avant-garde in the Rhineland from 1949 to 1965.