On his Series

The prints from 'Schwurhand', 'Zirkulationszeit' and 'Tränen' (Oath Hand, Circulation Time and Tears Series) form invisible links. Perhaps, though, it is only a tone. Franz-Joachim Verspohl writes: 'It is evident in the Oath Hand Series that the prints focus on different themes - light and matter, statics and movement.'

It would certainly be misleading to attempt to read his series in a linear fashion like a story. Some aspect of the unpredictability of all of his creations remains with us. Gradually, one becomes accustomed to the motifs, above all the animals - seals, swans, reindeer, sheep, hares and stags - and the sleds and the woman, as well as the materials such as felt, fat and honey.

In the catalogue to the Liechtenstein National Art Collections, 'Joseph Beuys. Späte Druckgraphik', there are color reproductions of all of the prints published by Grafos Verlag. The author, Franz-Joachim Verspohl, cites a passage from 'Das allgemeine Brouillon' by Novalis, and draws a parallel to Beuys. The artist's spiritual concept is not to be underestimated as a form of alchemy: polar principles such as crystallization and organics come into play. At first, as if in compensation for his Catholic upbringing, Beuys got involved in Anthroposophy (with Rudolf Steiner's essay from 1923, 'Über die Bienen' or 'On Bees'). Elements of this flowed into his works.

The graphic techniques of this selection include lithography and etching, dry point and aquatint, as well as combinations of these. The last series, 'Tränen', printed in 1985, consists exclusively of etchings. Elk, hare, stags and sleds are prototypes in Joseph Beuys' repertoire. The artistic style is characterized by biographic influences and intuitive processes.

The first two prints published by Grafos, 'Torsi' (Torsos) and 'Elch' (Elk) are already out of print. The lithograph from 1978, Aus dem Leben der Bienen (From the Life of the Bees, after a sketch from 1959) contains one of the motifs of the famous 'Honigpumpe' (Honey Pump). In 1952 he creates 'Physiologie der Bienen' (The Physiology of Bees), and in 1952 the relief 'Königsbiene' (King Bee). Almost all motifs reappear in later actions and installations, but there is no room to enumerate these here. To the same set of motifs belong prints such as the last print of the Oath Hand series, Blitz und Bienenkönigin (Lightning and Queen Bee), or the mysterious graphic from Circulation Time, Honiggefäss (Honey Pot). These provides paths for approaching nature and getting in touch with the environment, in the sense of a consultation.

Wax, fat and elementary essences belong to the category of heat-sensitive materials, as opposed to felt, which is insulating. Warmth is portrayed here as an evolutionary force, a factor joining materials. Beuys' gives this exchange an allegorical character. In the first print from the 'Schwurhand' series, printed in 1980, the seemingly fleeting outline of Kalb und Kindern (Calf and Children) appears, like the shadows of Plato's hell. This is yet another print which could have been taken directly from a sketchbook. The meadow is reflected in the names of flowers: Geissfuss, Günsel, Knotgrass, Waldrapunzel, Daisies, Walwurz .... The everyday becomes shyly fragmentary. There is only one print in this series in which a female figure appears, Frau rennt weg mit Gehirnn (Woman Running Away with Brain). It is a pre-rational print which is linked to female figures in other series. In Beuys' world, the female appears unpredictable, unexpected, unconventional. And like the motif of a woman, that of the Hirsch ( stag or elk) is also a leitmotif, whether graphically linear or washed, as an etching or a lithograph, or everything mixed together. Insofar as the actual painting, though, the motif becomes astonishing in the third print of the 'Schwurhand' series for the power of association arising from its color spots. This one time only, Beuys breaks out into pure colors - red and blue.

Schwurhand

Eiszeit

Zelt

In the other prints, he sticks to the organic oxide tones, recalling ancient manuscripts and their dark brown inks made from plants, or their honey and wax colors. His art of alchemy produces gold from earth tones. Beuys mastered the alchemy of perception, and his art was informatively calculated like a syllabus. The motifs of the oath hand (Schwurhand) and the tent (Zelt) were incorporated quite concretely. And the soft allusion to an Ice Age (Eiszeit) seems nearly unreal. The crystal shapes recall leaves in the 'Tränen' series; and Primeval Sleds, the North Pole or the print of the same name in the 'Zirkulationszeit' series. The brown cubic forms, on the other hand, bring the word matter (Materie) into play and appear in prints such as 'Scrolls', 'Skulptur aus Gold' (Sculpture of Gold), Lumen and the series of the 'Wandernden Kiste' (Wandering Chest). These five lithographs on the chest were reproduced in Beuys' very first catalogue raisonné as a continuum on two facing pages, so that one can follow the path of the wandering chest as it advances.

After this comes the Fetus (Fötus), prenatal existence. The flying Bird (Vogel) brings a message. It becomes an act of perception, an intuitive gesture in the scope of matter and light. This is also true of the Swan (Schwan). In this print, its as if the bird had just collided with matter through the force of gravity. In all of these, there is an inexplicable sensation of 'Incarnatus est', the embodiment of the material. His motifs and discoveries naturally also achieved full shape in his 'actions' and interventions. In the core of this closed circulatory system, there appears the outline of a human figure, as if cast in a protective casing, against which a giant queen bee is thumping. And everything is illuminated by lightning, that elementary strand of energy directed by nature. The 'Schwurhand' series closes with the motif of Blitz und Bienenkönigin (Lightning and Queen Bee).

Schwan

Blitz und Bienenkönigin

Zirkulationszeit (Circulation Time)

The opening note of the Zirkulationszeit series is given by the proud print tote Hirsche (Dead Stags), a fine drawing which seems to precede a nature study. The Junger Hase (Young Hare) is so transparent in its essential reduction that it seems to disappear. The hare has a symbolic quality within Beuys' work. 'Chi dice che il coniglio non ama Joseph Beuys' (Who Says that Rabbits Don't Love Joseph Beuys) was the title of a piece from 1977. Quite the opposite the drawing Mädchen (Girl). The woman is unexpectedly lively. The lines are rash, yet clean and finely delineated in Portrait H.B. (Portrait H.B.), a portrait after a sketch from 1950. All the remaining prints are also based on previous sketches. Irritating, his Topfspiel (Pot Game), in which real and unreal are taken to task, the game a mother is playing with her children. Die Mütter (Mothers) remains a theme. Yet the alchemy of women does not end in the mother figure with Beuys. The Taucherin (Diving Girl) has a symbolic character and is at the same time like a hermaphrodite. Human alchemy is at work in his construction Raumecken. Filz und Fett (Room Corner, Felt and Fat), a leitmotif of Beuys'. The room suddenly becomes the mysterious Honiggefäss (Honey Pot). A man-to-man greeting is hidden in the print Hirsch mit Hut (Stag with Hat), a self-portrait from 1980. It is a dedicatory print in gratitude to Friedrich Herlt, who had initiated the editions for Grafos Verlag and been present through all the publishing house's years of exchange with the artist. Beuys had suffered a wound during the war and, henceforth, as is commonly known, he always wore a hat that characterized his appearance.

Topfspiel

Die Mütter

Taucherin

Honiggefäss

Hirsch und Hut

Bär

And at some point, the sea broke in like the subconscious, and with it the protagonists of the wilderness banned from civilization. His 'actions' became famous, they were the order of the day. The environment entered into the conscience of society: Bär (Bear), Meerengel (Sea Angel), Robben (Seals), five compelling prints, a sensitive basic form of life (cf. Novalis), followed by Meerengel einer Seegurke (Sea Angel of a Sea Cucumber), embodying the wide horizon. Soon after, the Urschlitten I and Urschlitten II (Primeval Sleds) enter into the picture in two etchings. Then comes the print Zirkulationszeit (Circulation Time), from which the entire series takes its name. The first Primeval Sled was put together by Beuys from objets trouvés worn by use. Beuys had once attached a kite to this sled and had spent all day sledding across the fields along the banks of the Rhine. The god of matter reports to duty in the last print, Kreuz für Saturn (Cross for Saturn), and with it the Zirkulationszeit series comes to a close.

Meerengel Robbe I	Meerengel Robbe II	Meerengel Robbe III
Meerengel 2 Robben	Urschlitten I	Urschlitten II

The 'Tränen' suite from 1985 is like a finale. This suite continues along the same lines as the previous two. Joseph Beuys' search resembles scratchings in wax or sand drawings. This is the most archaic of methods for leaving a trace. There is something of this in the technique used in his etchings. Now the female has two appearances: the thin Jungfrau (Virgin) and the Petticoat figure, supported on two skinny legs, lending a strange perspective to the pictorial space. Quite different, the introverted figure in Frauentorso (Female Torso). The Seiltänzerin (Tightrope Dancer) dares to walk the rope of transition, high above where she stands and holds her balance, as if the female had long since risen above the heads of the spectators. A final chord. And before us rises the wilderness, nature reduced to a Schafskelett (Sheep's Skeleton), and then Riesenziegen (Giant Goats). Polar bears emerge from Nordpol (North Pole) as if from a faded recollection about to dissipate. The Intelligenz der Schwäne (Intelligence of Swans) as well as the intuitive power of the mind takes over in all forms of Beuys' art.

Frauentorso	Seiltänzerin	Riesenziegen
Schafskelett	Nordpol	Intelligenz der Schwäne

There is also a Hirschschädel (Stag's Skull) from a previous sketch, Hirschfuss (Stag`s Foot) and the head of a stag in Hirsches (Stag), with tears flowing down his face. The king of visions is crying, its antennas feeling into space. The wilderness, as in Sea Angels, lies within the basic form of the Schamanen-Trommel(Shaman's Drum), as a reverberation of all energy. The harshness with which the balancing act of the Seiltänzerin (Tightrope Dancer) is drawn becomes even sharper here. This series is a shocking legacy. Beuys' death left these prints as the keystone to a reflexive artistic trajectory.

Hirschkopf

Schamanentrommel

Seiltänzerin

The artist had given himself unconditionally to the vague forces of intuition and was thereby able to enhance his imagination. His draftsmanship is led by automatism and observation, and displays the greatest sensibility. 'Der Hase' (The Hare), Beuys had remarked in a speech, ' is similar to the stag, but in a completely different way, much more specialized. He digs himself in. This brings us again to a movement of incarnation. That is what the hare does, buries itself deep into the earth to incarnate itself in it, which the human only does radically through the mind: to rub, strike and bury oneself in matter (earth); (the rabbit) finally bores through into the laws of the soil. This work sharpens its thoughts, then turns them about and makes them revolutionary.' ek