It’s 30 years since the incomparable, influential and insane artist Joseph Beuys died (23 January 1986, born 1921). Known as much for his conflicts with authority as his conceptual creations, his relationship with the art market was unsurprisingly volatile. In 1969, Beuys was the first West German artist to sell for over 100,000 deutschmarks through the dealer René Block at the third edition of Art Cologne, the world’s oldest Modern and contemporary art fair. (At the time, a brand new VW beetle car cost around 5,000 deutschmarks.) But Beuys was not enamoured with the fair, which—in its early editions—did not allow artists into its hallowed walls. As a protest in 1970, he, and others, banged their keys on the closed glass doors during a press conference. Today, the fair organisers are proud of their chequered history with the artist—a photograph of the protest, with Beuys in his trademark felt hat, is the banner on the fair’s website. “Art Cologne was first to do many of the things that art fairs do today, including learning from our mistakes,” says Daniel Hug, its director since 2008.
