As a self-described “social sculptor,” Joseph Beuys’s oeuvre primarily consisted of performance works, documentary photography, and items he coined multiples, a range of modestly sized and affordable objects relating to his production. He embedded materials with deep metaphorical meanings, often related to his life experience. In one of the most impactful stories in his autobiography, Beuys maintained that he was rescued from a plane crash in the Mongolian mountains after World War II, saved by a group of Tatar people who healed him by wrapping him in fat and felt. This self-mythologizing story contributed strongly to Beuys’s quasi-shamanic persona in the art world and his lasting influence on the history of art.

–Leigh Rollins, from the Glenstone Field Guide