Here we offer an extensive and significant collection of over 360 announcement cards, invite cards, publicity cards, announcement leaflets and other postcards by Joseph Beuys.
The collection currently consists of 324 cards and documents from July 1964 to artist’s unexpected death in January 1986 and a number of additional posthumous cards. The vast majority of these cards are directly related to solo exhibitions – of which Beuys had around 180 during his life time – hence this is a large proportion of all the Beuys invitation cards issued.
Koln: Karsten Greve, 1974
10.5 x 15cm, 2pp announcement card for a group show of drawings by Beuys, Buthe, Kounellis and Twombly. One work by Beuys reproduced on the front. VG+ but a mailed and type addressed example and with one tiny pinhole where it has been pinned to a board in the past.
Heidelberg: Edition Staeck, 1974
15 x 10.5cm, 2pp artist's postcard with the title text "Edition Staeck liefert sofort alle gebohnerte un gewichste Ware von Beuys." which roughly translates as "Staeck immediately delivers all polished and unweighted goods from Beuys." This example of this card has been overwritten in red ink by Beuys with a signed dedication. VG+. Schellman: P19.
NYC: Rene Block Gallery, 1974 15 x 10.5cm, 2pp announcement card for the installation Richtkrafte in New York (it had been show in Germany beforehand and later was sold in 1977 to a German museum. One b/w image of the work on the front, verso gallery details. A mailed example with stamp and typed address. VG+.
NYC: Rene Block Gallery, n.d. (1974)
15.2 x 11cm, 1pp. Announcement on thin card for the inaugural exhibition at the gallery in New York and one of Beuys most famous performances where on leafing the aircraft he was wrapped in felt and taken to the gallery on a gurney in an ambulance. In the gallery he lived with a coyote in a space along with copies of the Wall Street Journal, straw, felt and his crook. He spent eight hours a day in the space interacting with the wild animal before being taken back to the airport by the same method. One portrait of the artist by Ute Klophais in negative under text. An important event in the history of art. VG+.
Edinburgh: Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, 1974
13.6 x 8.6cm, 2pp announcement card with a Beuys drawing from the "Secret Block" reproduced on the front. This is one of Beuys' most important works - a group of drawings made by him in the early 70s. VG+.
Edinburgh/New York, Demarco/Ronald Feldman, 1974
10.5 x 15cm, 2pp announcement card for the editioned print here released by Beuys' New York Gallery although the publisher was Demarco. The colour image of the meeting (where Beuys looks bored) between the artist, the socialite and the architect is reproduced on the front, verso information about the print. VG+.
München: Galerie Thomas, 1974, 14.8 x 21cm, 2pp announcement card for an "upcoming edition" of a book by Beuys which was already sold-out at the publisher (Heiner Bastian; distributed by Schellmann & Klüser) but offered here because the Galerie Thomas secured some copies" "available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis". One drawing of a stag by Beuys on the front with the lower part of the card and order form which was supposedly to be cut off and mailed to the gallery. A bit crumpled on the bottom else in VG+ condition.
Berlin: Galerie Rene Block, 1974
10.5 x 15cm, 1pp announcement card for a groups show of all the major conceptual and Fluxus artists in the famous Berlin gallery. One work (by Emmett Wiliiams?) on the front with exhibition details. VG+.
Napoli: Lucio Amelio Modern Art Agency, 1974
21 x 15cm, 2pp announcement card for a Naples exhibition (where he had previously exhibited La rivoluzione siamo Noi at Amelio’s gallery in 1971). One text drawing on the front, verso gallery information. A mailed copy with stamp and typed address. VG+.
Pescara: Galleria Lucrezia De Domizio, N.D. (1974) 10 x 15.5cm, 1pp on white paper - letterpress. The typographic design is an invitation to the event "Meeting with Beuys, conference on direct democracy and free creativity" that took place under the organisation of his long term collaborator Lucrezia De Domizio, on 3 October 1974. During the talk, Beuys created the sculpture "Cairn" and drew two slate blackboards. The leaflet has a small vertical closed tear on top else VG. Rare.
