Hans-Peter Feldmann
1941–2023 · German visual artist associated with conceptual art
Hans-Peter Feldmann (Düsseldorf, 1941 – 2023) was a German visual artist and one of the recognised figures of conceptual art from the late 1970s onwards. His method was to collect, order and re-present images of many kinds: amateur snapshots, printed photographs, postcards, toys and minor works of art. In this way he offered a way of looking at the present that recalls the cabinets of curiosities.
He studied painting in Linz, Austria, during the 1960s. From 1968 he began making small handmade books, given the simple titles Bild or Bilder, which gathered reproductions of a single type of object, such as women's knees, shoes or chairs, presented without captions. In 1979 he withdrew from the art world to make books and pictures for himself, and in 1989 the curator Kasper König persuaded him to exhibit in a gallery again.
From 1998 he assembled larger collections. The best known is the series of newspaper front pages from 12 September 2001, showing the twin towers of New York. In 2010 he was named winner of the Hugo Boss Prize, which included an exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2011. His legacy lies in his use of domestic photography and reproduced images as artistic material.