Schlitten (Sledge)

Details

Joseph Beuys (1921-1986)
Schlitten (Sledge)
stamped with artist's signature 'BEUYS' (top of the sledge); numbered '27' (on a metal plaque affixed to the sledge)
wood and metal sledge, felt, belts, flashlight and fat
13¾ x 35 ³⁄₈ x 13¾in. (35 x 90 x 35cm.)
Executed in 1969, this work is number twenty-seven from an edition of fifty plus five Hors de Commerce

Literature

J. Schellmann (ed.), Joseph Beuys, Multiples. Catalogue Raisonné of Multiples and Prints 1965-1985, Munich 1985, no. 11 (another from the edition illustrated, unpaged).
J. Schellmann (ed.), Joseph Beuys, Die Mutiples. Werkverzeichnis der Auflagenobjekte und Druckgraphik 1965-1986, Munich 1992, no. 12 (another from the edition illustrated in colour, p. 53; installation views illustrated, pp. 14-15).
The Froelich Foundation: German and American Art from Beuys to Warhol, exh. cat., London, Tate Gallery, 1996, no. 81 (another from the edition illustrated, p. 248).
J. Schellmann (ed.), Joseph Beuys, The Mutiples. A Catalogue Raisonné of multiples and prints 1965-1986, Munich 1997, no. 12 (another from the edition illustrated in colour, p. 53; installation views illustrated, pp.14-15).

Exhibited

Antwerp, Galerie Ronny Van de Velde, Joseph Beuys. Multiples, 1988, no. 5 (another from the edition exhibited, illustrated in colour, unpaged).
Munich, A11 Artforum, Joseph Beuys - a private collection, 1990, no. 11 (another from the edition exhibited, illustrated in colour, p. 115; illustrated, p. 147).
Zurich, Kunsthaus Zürich, Joseph Beuys, 1993-1994, no. 27 (another from the edition exhibited, illustrated, p. 75). This exhibition later travelled to Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (another from the edition illustrated, p. 77) and Paris, Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou (another from the edition illustrated, p. 269).
Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Wide White Space 1966-1976, 1994 (another from the edition illustrated, p. 269).
Houston, The Menil Collection, Joseph Beuys. Actions, Vitrines, Environments, 2004-2005, no. 11 (another from the edition exhibited, illustrated in colour, p. 47).

Special Notice

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.

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Lot Essay

One of Joseph Beuys' most iconic art works, Schlitten (Sledge) presents a wooden sledge with fat, felt and a torch light strapped to it. A metaphoric survival kit, the flashlight represents the sense of orientation, felt for protection and fat for food. The elements of Schlitten are fragments intrinsically linked to the core Beuys personal narrative and symbolic universe, his now mythologised near-death experience during the Second World War. Beuys had joined the Luftwaffe in 1940 and trained as a Stuka pilot. While flying over the Crimea in 1943, his plane came down during a snowstorm and, according to the artist, he as the only survivor had been rescued from certain death by nomadic Tartars who had brought warmth back to his body by rubbing fat into it and wrapping it in felt. As he regained consciousness, the smell of the fat and the texture of the felt became ingrained in his memory, subsequently becoming a central feature in his most important works, such as Das Rudel (The Pack), in Neue Galerie in Kassel.

Schlitten (Sledge)

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