Josef Beuys by Andy Warhol

Facts

Material

Silkscreen with "Diamond-Dust"
Triptychon, Edition 8 of 90

Size

111.8 x 76.2 cm

Description

While their work is seemingly very different (though art historians have noted they both sort to elevate the familiar and everyday into the realm of art) Warhol and Joseph Beuys respected each other immensely. Warhol was easily the most famous artist in America by 1980, and likewise Beuys enjoyed immense popularity in Europe. Their first meeting in 1979, in New York, "had all the ceremonial aura of two rival popes meeting in Avignon" claimed the American critic David Bourdon.

The screenprints portraits Warhol made of Beuys, using an image of Beuys wearing his trademark hat, was undertaken at the latter's request, perhaps demonstrating how highly the high king of serious European social practice held his American counterpart in.

Location

Munich