Watch the moment Andy Warhol and Joseph Beuys—‘two rival popes’—first meet
Warhol’s depictions of the earnest German are brought together in a key show at London’s Thaddaeus Ropac gallery
Andy Warhol, Joseph Beuys, 1980-1983. Unique trial proof screenprint on Lenox Museum Board.
©The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / SchellmannArt / DACS, London,2023
An exhibition at Thaddaeus Ropac gallery in London rekindles the moment two titans of 20th-century art—Andy Warhol and Joseph Beuys—first met (and the rather awkward exchange that ensued). The show, Andy Warhol: The Joseph Beuys Portraits (until 9 February), brings together many of the Pop art master’s celebrated portraits of the German performance artist and theorist (the Beuys portraits are held in the collections of institutions such as Tate, London but this is the first time the group of works, including some dazzling diamond dust pieces, has been presented in a solo focus show since they were exhibited in the 1980s).
The notorious pair first met at an exhibition opening at Hans Mayer gallery in Düsseldorf, Germany, in 1979. The entertaining clip, which is available in all its glory to view on YouTube, shows Beuys striding towards Warhol at the glitzy vernissage. A bizarre commentary adds that the art world “holds its breath” as the “first summit meeting [took place] between the prime ministers of two major artistic powers that are worlds apart”. Andy looks suitably uneasy as Beuys says that “it was always very difficult to meet you”, prompting Warhol to whip out a camera and take a Polaroid of the Green party founding member. The art writer David Galloway described the encounter as having “the ceremonial aura of two rival popes meeting in Avignon” (bless them).
Beuys and Warhol tête-à-tête at Hans Meyer gallery in 1979