Collection Exhibition
Joseph Beuys: In Defense of Nature
Nov 16 - Mar 23, 2025
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Overview

This fall, in a multifaceted effort, The Broad will present a free collection exhibition, offsite public reforestation project, and series of programs connected with the legacy of Joseph Beuys’s art and environmental advocacy. The exhibition Joseph Beuys: In Defense of Nature is organized by The Broad’s curator Sarah Loyer with Beuys scholar Andrea Gyorody, director of the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art at Pepperdine University. It will coincide with a major reforestation initiative, Social Forest: Oaks of Tovaangar, as part of Getty’s landmark arts event PST ART: Art & Science Collide. These dual projects present Beuys’s work and practice as more urgent than ever before, as the planet’s climate continues to warm. 

The exhibition will present over 400 artworks that illuminate Beuys’s practice as a model for direct environmental action, drawing from the Broad’s extensive holdings of the artist’s work. The corresponding Social Forest initiative will echo the appeals for change seen within the exhibition, with an emphasis on the unique social and environmental context of current day Los Angeles. Undertaken in partnership with North East Trees and Tongva (Gabrielino) archaeologist Desireé Reneé Martinez and artist Lazaro Arvizu Jr., the project encompasses the planting of 100 native trees, primarily coast live oaks, in Elysian Park in Los Angeles and additional plantings at Kuruvungna Village Springs in West L.A. 


Highlighted Artwork

Joseph Beuys
1969
wooden sled, felt, belts, flashlight, fat and rope; sled stamped with oil paint (Browncross)
Overall: 14 1/2 x 35 1/2 x 13 3/4 in. (36.83 x 90.17 x 34.93 cm)
Joseph Beuys
1970
felt, sewn; stamped
Overall: 69 3/4 x 34 3/4 in. (177.17 x 88.27 cm)
Joseph Beuys
1972
color offset on cardstock, with handwritten text
Framed: 33 5/8 x 23 7/8 x 1 1/8 in. (85.41 x 60.64 x 2.86 cm)
Joseph Beuys
1982
lettering on heavy cloth
41 5/8 x 152 1/8 in. (105.73 x 386.4 cm)
Joseph Beuys
1982
paper shopping bag, with several stamps
21 1/2 x 17 3/4 in. (54.61 x 45.09 cm)
Joseph Beuys
1982
Basalt with gold spray paint
18 x 19 1/2 x 48 1/2 in. (45.72 x 49.53 x 123.19 cm)
Joseph Beuys
1985
light bulb with plug socket, in wooden box; lemon

Lightbulb with plug: 4 3/4 x 5 x 3 in. (12.07 x 12.7 x 7.62 cm)
Box: 7 1/2 x 7 1/4 x 7 1/4 in. (19.05 x 18.42 x 18.42 cm)
Lemon: approx. 3 x 2 in. diameter (7.62 x 5.08 cm diameter)
Joseph Beuys
1974
two tin cans, one with brown paint (Browncross); string, label
Cans, each: 4 3/4 x 4 x 4 in. (12.07 x 10.16 x 10.16 cm)
String: variable
Label: 2 1/4 x 3 in. (5.72 x 7.62 cm)
Joseph Beuys
1983
spade; blade wrought iron, handle ash wood, with burned inscription
53 1/2 x 11 1/2 x 5 in. (135.89 x 29.21 x 12.7 cm)
Joseph Beuys
1972
phototype on polyester sheet, with handwritten text; stamped
Framed: 77 x 41 1/4 x 1 1/8 in. (195.58 x 104.78 x 2.86 cm)
Joseph Beuys
1979
poster, silkscreen on paper
Framed: 35 x 25 3/8 x 1 1/8 in. (88.9 x 64.45 x 2.86 cm)

Press Highlights

ARTnews

Joseph Beuys’s Game-Changing Art Plants Seeds for Change in Two Vast LA Projects

by Tara Anne Dalbow

Los Angeles Times

100 native trees will be planted in Elysian Park for the Broad’s Joseph Beuys exhibition

by Jessica Gelt

The Art Newspaper

The Broad will reimagine a famed Joseph Beuys reforestation project

by Annabel Keenan