JOSEPH BEUYS (Krefeld, Germany 1921 – Düsseldorf 1986) was an artist shaman: a prophetic, emblematic figure, he was one of the rare, significant personalities to bestride the world art scene in the period after the Second World War.

Already in the early sixties, the German maestro was making his mark as one of the protagonists of avant-garde contemporary art. He took part in the first events of the Fluxus group and then focused his work in the area of performance art and of his political, social, humanitarian and economic commitment. He founded such cultural movements as the Organisation for Direct Democracy and the Free International University. Some of his conceptual propositions have remained with us with the memorable force of slogans: Every Man is an Artist, The Revolution is Us, Kunst = Kapital (Art = Capital) and The Defence of Nature.

Present at all the most prestigious international art events, from Documenta in Kassel to the Venice Biennale, he held an important anthological at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Joseph Beuys’ works are now held by the world’s leading museums.

From 1971 until a few days before his death, the German maestro was a constant presence in Italy more than in any other country. In Italy – more precisely in the tiny Abruzzo village of Bolognano, where he had a studio and created his famous Paradise Plantation – Beuys found a fertile terrain for disseminating his credo of love and fraternal collaboration between free individuals.

Lucrezia De Domizio Durini is one of the Italian personalities who worked most closely with the German maestro and still devotes her existence to spreading his philosophy through publications and lectures in various countries all over the world.