Joseph Beuys
(c)SABAM België, 2017 - Courtesy Neues Museum Nürnberg, photo: M HKA, 2017
Silberbesen und Besen ohne Haare, 1972
In the early 1970s, Joseph Beuys used brooms several times during his actions as a symbol for the purifying ambitions of his work, and the opportunities it offered to start again with a clean slate. In 1972, Beuys used a bright red broom to sweep up the residual waste left behind at a communist May Day demonstration on Karl-Marx-Platz in Berlin. In so doing, he made clear that he was not only dissatisfied with people's ideological fixation within capitalism, but also within communism. One of the brooms from Silberbesen und Besen ohne Haare is coated with silver leaf. The other broom consists of solid copper and features a sheet of felt instead of bristles.
Edition: 20 + 4, inscription 'Joseph Beuys" and numbering on silver broom
Edition René Block, Berlin