Review of Beuys

I had never heard of Beuys before seeing this film. Not sure what that implies. Anyway, despite being initially skeptical when I learned that he was injured several times while flying sorties for the Nazis, I ended up finding him to be quite an interesting character. The film does a good job of portraying the artist as philosopher. But he also seems to be a provocateur, which is how he became famous during his lifetime.

Physically, his appeal may have derived in part from his resemblance to a B-movie detective character not unlike those portrayed by Humphrey Bogart. Looking at the works presented in this film, there can be no doubt that Beuys influenced later generations of performance artists.