JOSEPH BEUYS — Der Fett-Stuhl / The Grease-Chair, Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, Vontobel Kunstkartendruck, Zürich, 1982

Postcard, Joseph Beuys, Der Fett-Stuhl / Chaise de graisse / The Grease-Chair. Vontobel Kunstkartendruck, Feldmeilen/Zürich, 1982. Offset-printed colour postcard, approx. 10.5 × 15 cm. VD 2531. © 1982, Copyright by Josef Beuys. Printed in Switzerland.

Recto reproduces Beuys’s Der Fett-Stuhl from the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt: a white-painted wooden chair with a large wedge of fat on the seat, a twig tied to the chair back, installed behind glass. Divided postcard verso with printed caption in German, French, and English; publisher details; copyright line; distribution number; and address field.

Produced as a reproduction postcard, the object’s first function was circulation. A sculpture made from chair and fat is converted into a portable printed support: image to front, caption and address structure to reverse. The card retains its original public function. It was made to move, but this example remains unused: unposted, intact, and still carrying the administrative form of distribution.

Beuys’s work appears here not as sculpture, installation, or museum encounter, but as a small printed object prepared for passage. The interest lies in the retained format. Copyright, publisher, multilingual title, museum reference and postcard back all remain visible. A minor paper object, but exact in its evidence: Beuys translated into reproduction, distribution and collection.

Condition: Good vintage condition. Unposted, with light age toning and minor handling wear. Ships flat in protective archival packaging; UK and international shipping available.