Lot 619 D

“Though Beuys's art is formally thematically quite different from Warhol's, the two artists were frequently linked by critics who perceived them as possessing an almost alchemical ability to transform ordinary objects into valuable artworks. The two artists were never close friends but they displayed an elaborate and wily respect for each other. They met 'officially' in Düsseldorf - in Hans Mayer's gallery - on May 18, 1979. 'For those who witnessed the two approaching each other across the polished granite floor,' an American writer reported, 'the moment had all the ceremonial aura of two rival popes meeting Avignon.' Warhol typically recorded the event in snapshots of Beuys's gauntly poetic face that would soon materialize in a number of striking portraits. In a portfolio of three screenprints, produced in 1980, Warhol presented Beuys in black on black, black on white, and black on red, the latter two printed as negative images and flecked with glittery diamond dust. By reversing the lights and the darks, Warhol conveyed some of the elusive character of the mystifying German artist.” (David Bourdon, Through the reflecting glass elusively, in: Harry N. Abrahms (Hg.), Warhol, Verona 1989, S.385).