Celebrating Joseph Beuys' works

Born in Krefeld 100 years ago on May 12, 1921, Joseph Beuys was mythologized for his groundbreaking conceptual art, but also his signature felt hat. The iconic image of the world-renowned artist with his headwear was forged after Andy Warhol created a series of screen prints of Beuys in 1980. They were based on a Polaroid photograph taken by Warhol in 1979 when the giants of postwar art met.

Fascinated by works by the German sculptor Wilhelm Lehmbruck, the young Beuys was inspired to create sculptures that feature an unusual combination of materials. His later work "Capri Battery" was typical, with a lemon connected to and seemingly powering a light bulb. Created a year before his death in 1986 while convalescing in Capri in Italy, it was a comment on ecological sustainability.

Felt and fat were materials that Beuys used consistently in his work. After claiming that Tartar tribes people had saved his life during the war by wrapping his body in felt and fat, these storehouses of heat and symbols of survival became core component of his work. In 1964 he applied a slab of grease to a kitchen chair (pictured), and in one gallery show, he smeared margarine across the space.

Beuys infused other objects such as the wooden sleds (pictured) with mythological significance. In this image, we see the sleds combined with rolls of felt and arranged in a space. The VW bus belonged to his gallery owner, René Block. "The Pack" made Beuys world famous. It was his very first installation and was exhibited at the Cologne Art Fair in 1969.

Criticism of capitalism was evident throughout Joseph Beuys' work. Art "actions" outside of museums were also part of his repertoire. In May 1974, the German went down in art history in New York. As a shaman wrapped in felt, he spent days with a wild coyote. Remnants of the "Wall Street Journal" newspaper served as his "camp."

This work also shows Beuys' examination of capitalism. Real capital, the artist believed, is the creativity every human being possesses. The work is still on permanent loan from art collector Erich Marx and can be viewed at the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin. It will soon find a new home in the renovated Neue Nationalgalerie.

Signing a real banknote with a felt-tip pen was provocative. The 20 German Mark bill was thus ennobled as an art object and multiplied in value in a very short time: it was the essence of capitalism. The small edition object by Joseph Beuys, with 20 copies issued in 1979 by Edition Staeck, is today offered at auctions for @3,000 euros ($3,650) and more.

Beuys, who was an internationally renowned action artist and theorist by 1982, gave his ecologically visionary project the subtitle: "City Forestation Instead of City Administration." He had conceived the work in 1982 for Documenta 7, and its realization required a great deal of money and persuasion. Beuys was ahead of his time; he recognized the importance of ecology and saw trees as life-givers.

A basalt block was mounted next to each newly planted oak, creating what Beuys understood as a total work of art. Anyone who donated 500 German Marks to the art campaign could plant a tree. Beuys planted the first oak tree in Kassel but did not live to see the completion of his work. The artist died on January 23, 1986. After his death, his son planted the last of the 7,000 oaks.