ART

Beuys Coup: The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis has purchased a collection of 437 works by Joseph Beuys, one of the preeminent artists of postwar Germany. Beuys, who died in 1986, was a critic of the materialism he saw in the United States and in Germany, and his art, made from commonplace materials, was intended to undermine the notion that art was an investment commodity. The works include such eccentric objects as two brooms and a zinc box titled “Enterprise,” which features a photo of Beuys and his family watching “Star Trek.” Also included are a green violin, a stack of film cans, a cast-iron backrest and a child’s sled carrying pieces of fat, felt and a flashlight. The museum declined to say how much it paid for the collection.