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A silver colored, open tin can with a brown painted cross on the front next to a flat-tip screwdriver with a brown handle.

The artwork contains two objects, an open tin can containing lubricant and a screw driver. The tin can is silver and has a brown cross, in the orientation of an addition sign, hand painted on the front. The tin is open and shows the yellowed lubricant inside. The screw driver has a brown handle and a flat-tip.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1995.257.A-D
People
Joseph Beuys, German (Krefeld, Germany 1921 - 1986 Düsseldorf, Germany)
Published by Museumsverein Mönchengladbach
Title
Object to Smear and Turn
Other Titles
Original Language Title: Objekt zum Schmieren und Drehen
Classification
Multiples
Work Type
object, multiple
Date
1972
Culture
German
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/219196

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Tin can, lubricant, screwdriver, brown oil paint ("Browncross")
Dimensions
13 x 5.5 cm (5 1/8 x 2 3/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: on printed card

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Edition
64 / 100, plus a few unnumbered a.p.
Standard Reference Number
Schellmann 53, p. 89

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, The Willy and Charlotte Reber Collection, Louise Haskell Daly Fund
Copyright
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Accession Year
1995
Object Number
1995.257.A-D
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
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Exhibition History

  • In/Tuition: a seminar's engagement with Joseph Beuys, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 09/20/1997 - 12/07/1997
  • Multiple Strategies: Beuys, Maciunas, Fluxus, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 02/24/2007 - 06/10/2007
  • 32Q: 1100 60’s Experiment, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 04/06/2016 - 10/13/2016

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Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu