Almost no one has had more of an influence on 20th century art than Joseph Beuys. When he received the Wilhelm Lehmbruck Prize from the city of Duisburg in 1986, he described in his speech how he had arrived at his concept of social sculpture via the work of Lehmbruck: „Everything is sculpture!“ was the call that came to him from an image of Wilhelm Lehmbruck’s work. High time, then, to present the work of both sculptors in dialogue with each other. To mark the 100th anniversary of Beuys’s birth, the Lehmbruck Museum and the Bundeskunsthalle have joined forces. This exhibition catalogue shows that culpture is more than what we see, feel, hear and smell. It is a means of discovery and an experience of the new. The exhibition shows the works of two artists who saw a great potential of freedom in the sculptural field, which had to be realized beyond the borders of art.

JOSEPH BEUYS (1921–1986) was a German sculptor, draftsman, and action artist. With his concepts of the “expanded concept of art” and social sculpture, he shaped the art of the second half of the twentieth century.

WILHELM LEHMBRUCK (1881–1919) was a German sculptor, painter, and draftsman. He is considered one of the most significant artists of the turn of the twentieth century and had a great influence on subsequent generations of artists.