THE STRANGE TALE OFTHE MAN WHO LOVED FAT AND FELT - A few words about Joseph Beuys

 Lehmbruck

STUKA

All smashed up

STEINER

Anthroposophy

Anthropology

Ethnography

FELT AND FAT

All wrapped up 

In a fishing waistcoat

And felt Fedora

Joseph Beuys on Rannoch Moor.
Oil on canvas, 915mm x 1220mm. 2020

Joseph Beuys was born in Krefeld, Germany in 1921 and died a controversial and world famous artist in 1986. Many commentators regard him and his polar opposite, Andy Warhol, as the greatest artists of the second half of the 20th century. With Warhol, however, what you see is what you get, but with Beuys everything is symbolic of something else.

He grew up during the rise to power of the Nazi Party and like most boys of his time had little choice but to join the Hitler Youth. He wanted to be a doctor but in 1940 volunteered for the German air force. He was trained to be a radio operator on Stuka dive bombers and in 1944, while serving in the Crimea, his aircraft was shot down. The pilot was killed but Beuys was thrown out and sustained serious head injuries. He later turned this near death experience into a myth, in which he was found in the snow by Tartar nomads who covered him in fat and wrapped him in felt to keep warm. He would use these materials frequently in his work.

These war experiences left Beuys suffering from anxiety and depression but in 1947 he began to study sculpture at the Academy of Art in the ruined city of Dusseldorf. He also joined the Anthroposophical Society, a break away from Theosophy led by Rudolph Steiner. Beuys thinking was hugely influenced by Steiner and is the key to understanding his work. In 1954 he suffered a serious nervous breakdown and recovered working on a farm owned by brothers who were old school friends. They supported him and purchased much of his early work. By 1961 he had become professor of monumental sculpture at Dusseldorf Academy and was one of Germany's most challenging and controversial artists.

Richard Demarco ran an art gallery in Edinburgh and first came across the work of Joseph Beuys at the 'Documenta' exhibition in Germany in 1968. He was determined to bring him to Scotland so the next time they met he shewed Beuys a collection of tourists post cards of Scotland. According to Demarco, after a long silence as he studied them, Beuys remarked,

"I see the land of Macbeth; so when shall we two meet again? In thunder, lightning or in rain?"

Beuys was hooked.

Staging the 'Strategy Gets Art' exhibition during the 1970 Edinburgh Festival at the college of art was Demarco's greatest coup. Nothing like this had been shown in Britain before. As well as the work of Joseph Beuys there were other Dusseldorf artists, many who had been his students. It was regarded as being threatening, radical, humorous, challenging and controversial. Beuys exhibited 'Pack', a beaten up Volkswagen van followed by a tail of wooden sledges, each carrying felt, fat and a torch strapped to them.

Demarco was keen to show Beuys the Highlands so he took him on a road trip north. They drove up the A82 and stopped at what Demarco considered the 'Celtic Heart of Scotland' and had a frolic on Rannoch Moor. Beuys miraculously produced a lump of gelatin, carved a rough heart shape with a pen knife and stood with it at arms length, squeezing the gelatin as if it was a genuine, pulsating heart. This was the beating heart of 'Celtic, Druidical Scotland', whatever that means.

The Beating Heart
Oil on board. 2020