Joseph Beuys

Witches Spitting Fire

1959

Not on display

Artist: Joseph Beuys 1921–1986
Original title: Hexen Feuer Speiend
Medium: Graphite and oil paint on paper
Dimensions: Support: 207 × 297 mm
frame: 670 × 540 mm
Collection: ARTIST ROOMS Tate and National Galleries of Scotland
Acquisition: ARTIST ROOMS Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008
Reference: AR00109

Online caption

Witches are often seen in German art of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The interest in witches at that time was linked to the larger issue of society's attempt to understand women's bodies and their fertility, a subject which still concerns the artist in this 1959 drawing. Although these images from traditional German art would have been known to Beuys, his presentation of women as witches also refers to his own particular fascination with ancient and mysterious characters. Shown against a background suggestive of flames, Beuys's depiction of these two figures as fearsome and powerful shows his respect for a world where primitive, spiritual powers take precedent.