Joseph Beuys

Lucio Amelio, Naples
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in the early 1990s

Naples, Galleria Lucio Amelio, Terremoto in Palazzo, 1981
Naples, Accademia di Belle Arti, Die soziale Plastik, 1981
Paris, Gran Palais,Terrae Motus, 1987
Naples, Museo Villa Pignatelli, Diagramma Terremoto, 1997
Siena, Palazzo delle Papesse, Bacon, Beuys, Burri, 2000
Naples, Museo Madre, (on permanent loan), 2005-2007
Milan, Fondazione Mazzotta, Beuys vs Warhol. Omaggio a Lucio Amelio, 2007

Achille Bonito Oliva, Diagramma Terremoto, (Joseph Beuys, Napoli 1981), Naples 1997, n. p.

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate. Condition: This work is in very good original condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This work is accompanied by a 35mm movie filmed in 1997 as per Beuys' instructions by director Mario Franco produced by Galleria Scognamiglio e Teano, Naples, with the cooperation of Eva Wenzel and Jessika Beuys.

The earthquake that shook Naples in 1980 measured 6.8 on the Richter scale and claimed nearly 3,000 lives. The disaster resulted in a new found attachment to the city by both Neapolitans and beyond, including Beuys, who already had a great fondness for the city as was the first place in Italy he had ever exhibited.  Out of the darkness of this tragic event came an emergence of creativity from the world's greatest artists, encouraged and supported by the notorious Neapolitan Contemporary Art gallerist Lucio Amelio. His close relationships with Beuys and other artists such as Andy Warhol, achieved a huge impact on the social and artistic scene in Naples at the time.  The collective reaction to the event was shown in its entirety at the Grand Palais in Paris in 1987 with the exhibition Terrae Motus.

Diagramma Terremoto was Beuys' response to Lucio Amelio's plea for the creation of art against the destruction of nature. The art critic Archille Bonito Oliva wrote of this work in the Exhibition Catalogue of Galeria Scognamiglio & Teano: "A 34 meter-long roll of electrocardiogram paper, traced upon by the sensitive hands of this Tiresius of art, everything concentrated by a gestural skill capable of seizing the vibrations and memory of the earthquake. This was art become a seismographic system, the artist the medium [...] " By encasing this long roll of paper with its enigmatic and unpredictable lines, the earthquake has been monumentalised, immortalised. Paradoxically, the brief minutes that caused such chaos and tragedy are now recorded and preserved serenely forever.

The posthumous film that accompanies this work was realised in 1997 by the Neapolitan film-maker Mario Franco and produced by Galleria Scognamiglio e Teano, with the co-operation of Eva Wenzel and Jessica Beuys. It presents the viewer with an alternative diagram; not spatial this time, but temporal. The sixteen minute film captures both the poetic precision of Beuys' work and the political quality of the man himself. "The structure of the film manages to preserve the visible journey of Beuys' hand, vibrating on the roll, in a play of the cancellation and accumulation, destruction and affirmation of a rhythm...Diagramma Terremoto accompanies the vision of the film from a distance... like a bandage which binds the wounds of a people and of the entire city of Naples..." (Archille Bonito Oliva cited in Diagramma Terremoto, Naples, 1997)