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Felt Suit

Felt Suit

Original Language TitleFilzanzug
Artist Joseph Beuys (German, 1921 - 1986)
Date1970
MediumFelt with original label and wood hanger
DimensionsOverall: 67 × 24 × 4 inches (170.18 × 60.96 × 10.16 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: acquired through the generosity of the William T. Kemper Foundation–Commerce Bank, Trustee
Object number2008.32
InscribedWhite letters on black cloth label: Joseph Beuys EDITION 27 GALERIE RENÉ BLOCK BERLIN 1970 100 EXPL. EXPL. NR. 44
On View
Not on view
Collections
DescriptionA life-size sculpture that resembles a man's suit. It is rudimentary and does not have refined details such as buttons or button holes.Gallery Label
This plain wool felt suit is a symbol of compassion and healing. Beuys regarded felt as a living material with the power to heal body and soul. The artist’s use of felt in his work stems from his experience as a World War II fighter pilot in the German air force. After the trauma of war, he chose art as a way back to life. Beuys created a symbolic myth in order to describe this transformation. He told how he was shot down over the Crimea and nursed back to life by nomadic Tartars, who wrapped his freezing and shattered body in fat and felt.
Published References

Schellmann, Jörg. Joseph Beuys: Multiples, Catalogue Raisonné of Multiples and Prints 1965-85. Munich: Jörg Schellmann, Ed., 1985, ill. No. 23.

Schellmann, Jörg.  Joseph Beuys; Multiples (revised edition) Edition Schellmann, Munich-New York Catalogue no. 26  Illustrated pp 17, 65 c. 1997.

The Froehlich Collection:  German and American Art from Beuys and Warhol. Exhibition catalogue. London: Tate Gallery, 1996, ill p. 248 no. 82.

Copyright© Joseph Beuys Estate / Thaddaeus Ropac
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