Harvard Art Museums > 2001.50: Shit Hare Multiples Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Shit Hare (Dieter Roth) , 2001.50,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Apr 25, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/173509. This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 2001.50 People Dieter Roth, Swiss (Hanover, Germany 1930 - 1998 Basel, Switzerland) Title Shit Hare Other Titles Original Language Title: Karnickelköttelkarnickel, Scheisshase, Rabbitdroppingrabbit Classification Multiples Work Type multiple Date 1975 Culture Swiss Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/173509 Physical Descriptions Medium Dirt, straw, hay, rabbit droppings, pressed into a mold Dimensions sight: 18 x 18 x 10 cm (7 1/16 x 7 1/16 x 3 15/16 in.) Provenance Recorded Ownership History Private Collector, North Rhine Westphalia, Auction, Germany, 1990, 2001. Galerie Marion u. Roswitha Fricke, Düsseldorf, Germany, 2001, 2001. Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Purchase in memory of Eda K. Loeb Copyright © Dieter Roth Estate / Hauser & Wirth Accession Year 2001 Object Number 2001.50 Division Modern and Contemporary Art Contact am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Commentary The "Shit Hare", 1975 by Dieter Roth (1930-1998) is an artwork representing, indeed exhibiting, the organic process of decay and the biological end product of the body. Pressed in the shape of a traditional Easter chocolate bunny, the material of rabbit excrement belies and reverses its cute attractiveness to viewers. Commissioned by Daniel Spoerri’s "Eat Art Gallery" in Düsseldorf, Roth’s "Shit Hare" can be seen in relation to the output of – and experimentation with – organic and edible works in the 1960s in and around this gallery’s influence. In addition, Roth taught at the Düsseldorf Art Academy, where the influential Joseph Beuys was his colleague. Beuys’ encouragement of expanding the ideas of sculpture and art was responsible for effecting a whole generation of artists coming out of the school. His mythological imbuing of animals, especially the hare (for both its religious connotations and its procreative powers), the most obvious of which is "How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare", 1965 is indeed an interesting consideration when thinking about Roth’s "Shit Hare". Provocation and commentary – favored tactics of Roth’s – enter the interpretation of the "Shit Hare", and provide a lighthearted countering to Beuys’ self-opposed spiritual and philosophical weight. As such, Roth emerges as a comic figure or jester, who provides his own insights by creating works of satire that contain earnest messages, for example, by asking how seriously we should take a self-appointed religious or artistic leader. Publication History Peter Nisbet and Joseph Koerner, The Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, ed. Peter Nisbet, Harvard University Art Museums and Scala Publishers Ltd. (Cambridge, MA and London, England, 2007), p. 39 Exhibition History Eat Art: Joseph Beuys, Dieter Roth, Sonja Alhäuser, Harvard University Art Museums, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 10/04/2001 - 12/16/2001 Related Articles Art Talk: The Abject Object—Decay and Irreverence in Dieter Roth’s Multiples April 22, 2021 Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
