JOSEPH BEUYS 1921-1986
Krefeld 1921-1986 Düsseldorf (German)
Title: Catalogue for Joseph Beuys: The Secret Block For a Secret Person In Ireland, 1974
Technique: Hand Signed, Dated and Inscribed Catalogue for an Exhibition
Size: 29.8 x 21 cm / 11.7 x 8.3 in
Additional Information: This Exhibition Catalogue is hand signed in pencil by the artist " Joseph Beuys" under his photograph on page 4.
It is also hand dated in pencil and inscribed “Oxford, 7.4.74”.
It is the First edition of the Catalogue for the Exhibition of the same title: “Joseph Beuys: The Secret Block for a Secret Person In Ireland” which took place in the Oxford Museum of Modern Art in 1974.
It contains an introduction by Nick Serota.
It was published by Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, in 1974.
Note: In 1958 Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) began selecting individual drawings on paper and composing them into an extensive series, "The Secret Block for a Secret Person in Ireland". On the occasion of the first presentation of this convolute in 1974 in Oxford, the group of 362 individual drawings - which would grow to 456 drawings in the coming years - was given the enigmatic title, in which the word "block" suggests the collection of works as having a sculptural dimension.
Moreover, the word "secret" appears twice in the programmatic title, which indicates that the drawings are secret formulations possessing a power for Beuys to potentially tap and that they are intended for a "secret person". It is likely that the person is the Irish writer James Joyce. In his artistic biography "Lebenslauf / Werklauf" (1964) Beuys had noted mysterious instructions from Joyce to extend his novel "Ulysses" (1922). In "The Secret Block for a Secret Person in Ireland" Beuys refers to the close relationship between drawing, thought, and language. Beuys fundamentally viewed drawing as an extension of language, as "thought forms" that are to be understood as the basis of his artistic practice.
Condition: Good Condition. Mild surface dirt and abrasions on jacket.