Joseph Beuys,

German 1921-1986-

Irish Energy, 1974;

peat briquette and butter, signed, inscribed and dated 1974 on the underside, 19x7x7cm (ARR) (VAT charged on hammer price)

Provenance: Gift from the artist to a Private Collection, London; Sotheby's, London, 22nd February 1990, lot 365.

Exhibition: Feldman Gallery, New York, 1989.

Literature: Sean Rainbird 2005, p. 38 (photograph with Joseph Beuys standing behind 'Irish Energy' models)

Note: Joseph Beuys was a German artist and art theorist who exerted an immense influence on the shape of contemporary art towards the end of the 20^th century and beyond. Beuys was a central member of Fluxus, an experimental interdisciplinary artistic movement which also included artists such as Yoko Ono and Nam June Paik.

The present piece demonstrates Beuyss interest in employing a range of media in the production of his work, thereby challenging the existing distinctions between genres which defined attitudes to and understandings of high art amongst many 20^th-century commentators. This work is part of the installation Irish Energies, in which the artist used highly unconventional materials, in this case Scottish peat and Irish Kerrygold butter, allowing him to explore issues of place and identity.

Beuys exhibited regularly throughout his lifetime, representing Germany at the Venice Biennales of 1976 and 1980. His work was also the subject of a retrospective held at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York in 1979, and was exhibited at the Seibu Museum of Art in Tokyo in 1984

The lasting impact of Beuyss approach on the development of conceptual art to follow cannot be overstated, with pieces by the artist held in museums around the world. One of the most significant public collections of the artists work is in the Hessisches Landesmuseum in Darmstadt. Many of his works are also held by Harvard University, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, and the Walker Art Centre in Minneapolis