Bathtub
Date: 1977 ; Munich , Germany in terms of modern geography
Art Form: Sculpture
Dimensions: 86 X 102 cm (33.86 X 40.16 in)
The work is comprised of a bathtub for infants (in which allegedly the artist himself was bathed) which has been treated with gauze, adhesive plaster, fat and copper wire. It was originally presented in 1968/69 in the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany.
In 1973, the work was loaned by collector Lothar Schirmer to be presented as part of a travelling exhibition on "Reality, Realism and Reality". It was stored at Castle Morsbroich in Leverkusen, Germany, in preparation of the exhibition. Members of the local branch of the Social Democrat Party (SPD) found the work and accidentally destroyed it by removing the gauze, plaster and fat. They were in search of a tub or container for cleaning the glasses used at a party at the museum and did not realise it was in fact an artwork. In a subsequent lawsuit, the city of Wuppertal (to which it had been loaned) was ordered to pay damages of 58.000 DM.
On commission of Schirmer, the artist restored the work in 1977 in Munich, using the original materials, insofar as they had been found and preserved.
In 2013, the work was donated by Schirmer to the Beuys collection in Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany.
