Joseph Beuys - Ohne die Rose tun wir's nicht (We Won’t Do It without the Rose) poster - Edition Staeck 1972

At Documenta 5 in Kassel in 1972, Beuys set up his "Office for Direct Democracy through Referendum" for the entire duration of the exhibition - 100 days - where he discussed his ideas with visitors on how society could be changed through creative action. Despite the revolutionary impetus of his concepts, he emphatically distanced himself from groups such as the RAF in West Germany or the Red Brigades in Italy, which attempted to enforce their claim to social change by violent means.1 In contrast, Beuys advocated a peaceful path through which social progress should take place as a process of development.

On the desk in Beuys' Kassel “Office for Direct Democracy through Referendum” stood a narrow glass vase with a rose, which was replaced every day. The Multiple Rose for Direct Democracy is based on this arrangement, except that here the vase has been replaced by a glass measuring cylinder on which the title of the work is written. It winds upwards like a spiral and thus not only refers to the growth of the plant, but also visualises the evolutionary aspect that Beuys associated with the social processes he was striving for. The rose petals in particular seemed to him to symbolise this development. He told Caroline Tisdall: ‘Bud and blossom are actually transformed green leaves. In relation to the leaves and the stem, the blossom therefore signifies a revolution, but one that takes place very slowly through transformation and evolution.

80x55,8cm - unsigned - very good condition
(looks better than our photo, yes its pinkish)