Important collection of items pertaining to Joseph Beuys’ environment Zeige Deine Wunde and the commotion caused by its acquisition by the German state. Collection comprises:
1. “zeige deine Wunde” Raum mit Doppelobjekten, München, Verlag Schellmann & Klüser, 1976, 30,5×30,5 cm. Clothbound with original dust-jacket. Unpaginated. German. Limited edition of 500 copies. Exhibition catalogue / photobook.
2. “zeige deine Wunde” Raum mit Doppelobjekten, München, Verlag Schellmann & Klüser, 1976 (02), 14,9×21,1 cm. Oversized invitation card for the opening of the exhibition / installation of Zeige (…) at the Kunstforum, a space in a pedestrian underpass between Maximiliansstrasse and Altstadtring in Münich.
3. Beuys in München, 1980 (01), 14,8×21 cm. Double invitation for a solo show in Schellmann & Klüser gallery and for the new installation of Zeige Deine Wunde after its purchase by Städtischen Galerie im Lenbachhaus for the ‘outrageous’ sum of 270,000DM, a move that sparked a lot of controversy and fierce criticism becoming one of the major ‘art scandals’ of the Post- War Germany. Verso pasted newspaper clipping regarding Beuys discussion held at the Lenbachgalerie on the matter.
4. Single A4 press release by Galerie Schellmann & Klüser on the events mentioned above.
5. Cancelled admission card for a Beuys’ talk on 25th of January 1980 at Techn. Universität München, stamped verso “Podiumdiskussion mit Joseph Beuys, 26.01.80, 14.30 Uhr, Lenbachhaus”.
6. “zeige deine Wunde” / “zeige deine Wunde”: Reaktionen, München, Verlag Schellmann & Klüser, 1980, 29,5×29,5 cm. Softbound. 2 volumes in original plain cardboard slipcase. First volume is a reworked and expanded version of the limited 1976 publication (1) while second volume is a meta-work in itself. Beuys the provocateur compiles all the – mostly libellous – material published in the press during the media frenzy concerning the aforementioned acquisition (3). From opinion pieces to caricatures and faux- advertisements everything is meticulously archived and reproduced, exhaustively documenting the heated debate. Volume 2 signed in pencil by Beuys on front cover.
7. An impressive archive of 54 original newspaper clippings of various sizes pertaining to Zeige Deine Wunde copiously collected since before the conception of the aforementioned volume by a scholastic art critic following closely Beuys activities at the time. The material is reproduced in the Reaktionen volume.
