ARTIST

Joseph Beuys

1921 - 1986

Photo of Joseph Beuys

Icon of person Joseph Beuys

Joseph Heinrich Beuys ( BOYSS, German: [ˈjoːzɛf ˈbɔʏs]; 12 May 1921 – 23 January 1986) was a German artist, teacher, performance artist, and art theorist whose work reflected concepts of humanism, sociology, and, with Heinrich Böll, Johannes Stüttgen, Caroline Tisdall, Robert McDowell, and Enrico Wolleb, created the Free International University for Creativity & Interdisciplinary Research (FIU). He previously in his talks and performances also formed The Party for Animals and The Organisation for Direct Democracy. He was a member of a Dadaist art movement Fluxus and singularly inspirational in developing of Performance Art, called Kunst Aktionen, alongside Wiener Aktionismus that Allan Kaprow and Carolee Schneemann termed Art Happenings. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Joseph Beuys has received more than 1,295,843 page views. His biography is available in 50 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 47 in 2019). Joseph Beuys is the 11th most popular artist (down from 10th in 2019), the 318th most popular biography from Germany (down from 278th in 2019) and the 2nd most popular German Artist.

Joseph Beuys was a German artist and sculptor who is most famous for his use of materials such as felt, fat, honey, and wax to create artworks that explore social and political issues.

Memorability Metrics

  • 1.3M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 68.79

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 50

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 8.11

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.14

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among ARTISTS

Among artists, Joseph Beuys ranks 11 out of 125Before him are M. C. Escher, Jusepe de Ribera, Hans Holbein the Younger, Victor Vasarely, Anders Zorn, and Hiroshige. After him are Yves Klein, Jean Arp, Käthe Kollwitz, Roy Lichtenstein, Theo van Doesburg, and El Lissitzky.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1921, Joseph Beuys ranks 19Before him are Simone Signoret, Fahd of Saudi Arabia, Jean-Bédel Bokassa, Sophie Scholl, Hua Guofeng, and Friedrich Dürrenmatt. After him are Peter Ustinov, Gunnar Nordahl, Paulo Freire, Patricia Highsmith, Nancy Reagan, and Yitzhak Navon. Among people deceased in 1986, Joseph Beuys ranks 10Before him are Vyacheslav Molotov, Andrei Tarkovsky, Olof Palme, Mircea Eliade, Tenzing Norgay, and Jiddu Krishnamurti. After him are Cliff Burton, Jean Genet, Harold Macmillan, Frank Herbert, Urho Kekkonen, and Henry Moore.

Others Born in 1921

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Others Deceased in 1986

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In Germany

Among people born in Germany, Joseph Beuys ranks 318 out of 7,253Before him are August Ferdinand Möbius (1790), Theodor Heuss (1884), Julius Streicher (1885), Georgy Lvov (1861), Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist (1881), and Johann Friedrich Struensee (1737). After him are Ilse Koch (1906), Gustav Stresemann (1878), Franz Halder (1884), Frederick I of Sweden (1676), Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850), and Friedrich Carl von Savigny (1779).

Among ARTISTS In Germany

Among artists born in Germany, Joseph Beuys ranks 2Before him are Hans Holbein the Younger (1497). After him are Kurt Schwitters (1887), Josef Albers (1888), Ulay (1943), Bernt Notke (1435), Méret Oppenheim (1913), John Heartfield (1891), Marianne Brandt (1893), Gunta Stölzl (1897), and Daniel Hopfer (1470).