 LIFE COURSE WORK COURSE by Joseph Beuys This document is a chronology of Joseph Beuys' life that was written by Beuys himself. First published in 1964 and revised several times afterward, it is an idiosyncratic "resumé" of the most important events in his life and career. Often cryptic (his birth is described in the first entry as the "exhibition of a wound drawn together with an adhesive bandage") and not always strictly factual (Beuys was born in Krefeld, not Kleve), it should be considered a kind of artwork and is an important facet of the public persona he developed for himself. |
| 1921 | Kleve exhibition of a wound drawn together with an adhesive bandage
| 1922 | Exhibition at Rindern dairy near Kleve
| 1923 | Exhibition of a moustache cup (contents: coffee with egg)
| 1924 | Kleve public exhibition of heathen children
| 1925 | Kleve documentation: "Beuys as exhibitor"
| 1926 | Kleve exhibition of a stag leader
| 1927 | Kleve exhibition of radiation
| 1928 | Kleve first exhibition of the excavation of a trench | Kleve exhibition to explain the difference between loamy sand and sandy loam 1929 | Exhibition at the grave of Genghis Khan
| 1930 | Donsbrüggen exhibition of heather together with medicinal herbs
| 1931 | Kleve connecting exhibition | Kleve exhibition of connections 1933 | Kleve exhibition underground (digging parallel to the ground)
| 1940 | Posen exhibition of an arsenal (together with Heinz Sielmann,
Hermann Ulrich Asemissen, and Eduard Spranger) | Exhibition at Erfurt-Bindersleben Airport Exhibition at Erfurt-Nord Airport 1942 | Sevastopol exhibition of my friend | Sevastopol exhibition during the capture of a JU 87 1943 | Oranienburg interim exhibition
(together with
Fritz Rolf Rothenburg and Heinz Sielmann)
| 1945 | 1946 | Kleve warm exhibition | Kleve Artists' League "Successor of Profile" Heilbronn Central Train Station Happening 1947 | Kleve Artists' League "Successor of Profile" | Kleve exhibition for the hard of hearing 1948 | Kleve Artists' League "Successor of Profile" | Düsseldorf exhibition in the Pillen Bettenhaus Krefeld "Kullhaus" exhibition (together with A.R. Lynen) 1949 | Heerdt total exhibition three times in succession | Kleve Artists' League "Successor of Profile" 1950 | Beuys reads Finnegan's Wake in "Haus Wylermeer" | Kranenburg, Haus van der Grinten "Giocondology" Kleve Artists' League "Successor of Profile" 1951 | Kranenburg, van der Grintens' collection of Beuys: Sculpture and Drawings
| 1952 | Düsseldorf 19th prize in "Steel and Pig's Trotters"
(following a light ballet by Piene) | Wuppertal Kunstmuseum Beuys: crucifixes Amsterdam exhibition in honor of the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal Nijmegen Kunstmuseum, Beuys: Sculpture 1953 | Kranenburg, van der Grintens' collection of Beuys: Paintings
| 1955 | End of the Artists' League "Successor of Profile"
| 1956-1957 | Beuys' works in the fields
| 1957-1960 | Recuperation from work in the fields
| 1961 | Beuys is appointed Professor of Sculpture at the
Düsseldorf Academy of Art | Beuys extends Ulysses by 2 chapters at the request of James Joyce 1962 | Beuys: The Earth Piano
| 1963 | FLUXUS Düsseldorf Academy of Art | On a warm July evening on the occasion of a lecture by Allan Kaprow in the Zwirner Gallery in Cologne, Kolumba churchyard, Beuys exhibits his warm fat Joseph Beuys' Fluxus stable exhibition in the Haus van Grinten, Kranenburg, Lower Rhine 1964 | Documenta III sculpture, drawings | Beuys recommends that the Berlin Wall be elevated by 5 cm (better proportions!) |  |