Joseph Beuys

Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner in 1984-85

Munich, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Beuys zu Ehren, 1986, p. 246, illustrated
Düsseldorf, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Joseph Beuys: Natur, Materie, Form, 1991-92, p. 338, no. 490, illustrated
London, Tate Gallery; Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart; Hamburg, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, The Froehlich Foundation. German and American Art from Beuys and Warhol, 1996-97, p. 250, no. 97, illustrated
Karlsruhe, Museum für Neue Kunst im ZKM Karlsruhe, Eröffnung des Museums für Neue Kunst, 1999-2000
Karlsruhe, Museum für Neue Kunst im ZKM Karlsruhe, on loan, 2002-03
Duisburg, MKM Museum Küppersmühle, Joseph Beuys und Anselm Kiefer: Drawings - Gouaches - Books, 2012, p. 166, illustrated

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate. Condition: This work is in very good condition. The collaged sheets are stable. The larger sheet is hinged verso to the mount on the upper two corners. Very close inspection reveals some light creasing to the lower right corner. There is some staining to all three sheets, visible in the catalogue illustration and in keeping with the artist’s working process and choice of materials.
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For Joseph Beuys, drawing was the origin of his entire practice, and he once stated that “a drawing is the first visible form in my work, the first visible form of thought, the changing point from the invisible powers to the visible thing” (the artist quoted in: Bernice Rose, ‘The Drawings of Joseph Beuys, MoMA, No. 13, Winter-Spring 1993, p. 17). Throughout his career, the artist created multiple works on paper, which are characterised by meticulously traced, winding lines, sometimes accompanied by delicate washes of watercolour and collaged elements that range from torn paper to leaves and seeds belonging to trees  from all over the world. Beuys’ drawings, often seemingly created in the spur of the moment, are in fact central to the artist’s opus, and offer a deep insight into his singular universe of mythological, philosophical and scientific subjects.

Executed in 1984, Entwurf für Tiberiusbrücke Rimini belongs to the artist’s late graphic oeuvre. In present work, Beuys sketched Tiberius’ Bridge, which was constructed over the river Marecchia in Rimini (Italy) in 20 AD and was the only bridge not to be destroyed by the German army upon their retreat during the Battle of Rimini in 1944. 1944 is also the year Beuys was famously saved by Tartar tribesmen after his warplane crashed in Crimea, which connects the motif chosen by the artist to his own biography.

Shortly after Beuys’ death in 1986, Entwurf für Tiberiusbrücke Rimini was included in the seminal exhibition Beuys zu Ehren at the Lenbachhaus in Munich. Organised by Armin Zweite, Helmut Friedel and Bernd Klüser, the exhibition was a deeply moving homage to the artist and his legacy, and included contributions from artists, friends, collectors and curators. Entwurf für Tiberiusbrücke Rimini has later been included in further acclaimed shows of the artist’s work, confirming its importance within his oeuvre. Indeed, in its almost schematic depiction of the Tiberius Bridge, Entwurf für Tiberiusbrücke is full of Beuys’ energy, an extraordinary representation of his revolutionary artistic practice.