BEUYS,JOSEPH. Tisdall,Caroline. — Joseph Beuys. Coyote. [First edition].

[München], Schirmer/Mosel, [1976]. 159 pp. B./w. photographs. Orig. softcover (pictorial wrappers). Oblong 8vo. - Near fine copy.Text and photographs by Caroline Tisdall. - Text in German. - Since the early 1960s, Joseph Beuys staged "actions"-ritual, staged performances intended to achieve the unity of art and life that the artist sought. Beuys's actions, which took place partly in remote locations and largely in the presence of few spectators-rather on the fringes of public life-have hitherto been shrouded in the darkness of fragmented and inaccurate reporting. "Coyote" took place in May 1974 at the René Block Gallery in New York. The performance lasted seven days. In a space transformed into a cage, Beuys spent this time with a wild coyote. The wordless dialogue, which unfolded in a play of gestures between man and animal, metaphorically revealed the lost possibilities of human dialogue. In this book, art critic Caroline Tisdall documents a Beuys performance coherently for the first time using photographs and provides an extensive description of its entire course. Her text also examines the ideas underlying the "Coyote" performance and attempts to decipher the symbols presented.