of Monumental Sculpture at the Kunstakademie in
1961, and, by the mid 1960s, his political convictions
were the core of his artistic endeavors. At this time,
Beuys cast himself as a modern shaman whose pri-
mary mission was to enable the spiritual redemption
of the German people after the traumas inflicted by
Hitler and the Nazis. Focusing on the student
population, Beuys recognized that his greatest
skill was as a pedagogue. Most of his performances
culminated in prolonged question-and-answer ses-
sions in which he lectured for as long as his audi-
ences would listen.
Participating in several Fluxus—a loose associa-
tion of performers and Dada-influenced artists-
instigators—concerts, Beuys viewed performance
art as a means for translating his artistic ideas into
theatrical presentations. The initial importance of
photography in Beuys’s career can be traced to stun-
ning images taken of his performance at a Fluxus
event at the Aachen Technical College in 1964. At
this concert, Beuys’s performance was disrupted by
conservative students who stormed the stage, and
one of them punched the artist in the nose. Resolute
and determined to proceed, Beuys was photo-
graphed by Heinrich Riebesehl with his nose blood-
ied, his right arm raised, his left hand carrying a
crucifix, his visage exuding concentration and con-
fidence. This photograph radiates with a resolute
power that supercedes the time-based constraints
of the performance itself, operating as an art work
in its own right. Drawing on this experience, Beuys
recognized the power of theater and, just as impor-
tantly, the documentary authority of photography.
Shortly thereafter, Beuys began to conceive of
performances (Actionsas he called them), with a
keen awareness of how the camera would capture
isolated moments. In the following year, Beuys
organized an action, entitledHow to Explain Pic-
tures to a Dead Hare, that occurred on the opening
night of his first major solo exhibition at the Galerie
Schmela in Du ̈sseldorf in 1965. At this event, Beuys
coated his face with honey and gold leaf, presenting
himself as a sun god. In his arms, the artist cradled a
dead hare. During much of the performance, Beuys
sat in a chair, lecturing to the animal. No visitors
were allowed in the exhibition space; rather, the
public was only allowed to watch the performance
through the gallery’s front window. Beuys explained
his drawings to the dead rabbit, animatedly gesticu-
lating and eventually carrying the corpse through-
out the exhibition space. The resulting photos by
Ute Klophaus conferred the status of a mythologi-
cal figure on Beuys. Although the performance
occurred long ago, these photographs remain
haunting images that underscore Beuys’s aesthetic
philosophy and the central role of photography in
his oeuvre.
After this performance, Beuys consciously recog-
nized that his choice of symbols and the aura of his
personae could resonate within photographic images;
co-opting the photo as a work of art in its own right,
Beuys began to use photographic reproductions as one
of numerous resources that promoted his ‘‘expanded
concept of art.’’ Beuys’s 1974 performance,Coyote: I
Like America, America Likes Me, further implicated
this artist’s reliance on photographic images. Respon-
sible for producing an installation at the Rene ́Block
Gallery’s inaugural exhibition in New York, Beuys
created a week-long action documented by many oft-
reproduced photos. In this event, Beuys cohabitated
the gallery space with a wild coyote flown in from
New Mexico. Beuys intended his interaction with the
animal to symbolize a reconciliation between Europe
and America.
Beuys’s interest in photography was not con-
cerned with technical proficiency. Rather, his ap-
proach to the image was to use photos that violated
common technical conventions of framing, lighting,
and printing. For the traveling exhibitionArena:
What I Would Have Achieved If I Had Been Intelli-
gent, first shown in Naples in 1972, Beuys selected
more than 400 photographs of himself and his art,
which were displayed in aluminum containers.
Beuys reworked the images, covering them with di-
verse substances such as wax, grease, honey, and
gelatin. Although the photographs documented his
prior activities, Beuys’s reworking of them created
unique works of art. In the following year, Beuys
madeEnterprise, a sculpture in an edition of 24,
which incorporated a photograph of Beuys’s family
watching television. The sculpture consisted of a
zinc box with a print of the photograph glued to
the lid’s interior; the box itself contained a box
camera with a round piece of felt covering the lens.
Later, Beuys turned to using manipulated photo-
graphs to create a series of postcards that promoted
his aesthetic ideology. Although best known as a
performance and installation artist, Beuys routinely
exploited the documentary nature of photographic
images to promote his aesthetic theories and poli-
tical ideology.BRIANWinkenweder
Seealso:Body Art; Conceptual Photography; Post-
modernismBiography
Born in Krefeld, Germany, 12 May 1921. Served in the
German military as a combat pilot and radio operator,BEUYS, JOSEPH