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Date: 1921-1986

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Description: signed, titled and dated 1961 on the reverse

braunkreuz and pencil on paper

Executed in 1961.

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Dimensions: 29.5 by 21cm.

11 5/8 by 8 1/4 in.

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Provenance: Galleria Lucio Amelio, Naples
Libero Grande, Naples
Thence by descent to the present owners

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Published: Germano Celant, Beuys tracce in Italia, Naples 1978, p. 126, no. 123, illustrated

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Notes: As can be seen in the earlier lots 51, 52 and 53, the subject of woman-hood was ever-present in Beuys' drawings. Where the image of man appears to be mineralised and static, that of the woman is more fluid and active and he believes women have a greater openness to the possibilities of the future. Attrice presents the woman as actress as bee. Cast in braunkrauz, a medium which is thick with textural meaning but neutral in its brown tone, her heroic form is represented by a thick and gutsy, almost sculptural drawing against a stark white background. By the title, Beuys is possibly here referring to the 'performance' of life rather than theatre and by the image he makes reference to another consistent theme: the life system of bees as a reference to the total aspect of heat or 'thermal' organisation. He was fascinated by the social structure of bees as metaphors for natural and social behaviour and their form became the basis for some of his most profound sculptures using beeswax, such as Queen Bee III (1952, see fig. 1)