Hans-Peter Feldmann

Hans-Peter Feldmann (1941–2023) was an influential German conceptual artist who lived and worked in Düsseldorf. Since the 1960s, he focused on collecting, reproducing, and presenting everyday imagery. His works – often unsigned series of passport photos, holiday snapshots, or newspaper clippings – appeared in simple booklets, artist books, or installations, questioning the meaning, value, and function of images in a visually saturated consumer society. With subtle humor and a critical stance toward the mechanisms of the art world, Feldmann radically challenged conventional ideas of authorship, originality, and artistic value. In the 1980s, he withdrew from the art world, destroyed large parts of his oeuvre, and gave the rest away – only to resume his practice a decade later with the same conceptual approach. In 2010, he received the prestigious Hugo Boss Prize from the Guggenheim Museum in New York. His work has been shown in major institutions worldwide, including the MoMA New York, Museo Reina Sofía Madrid, the Serpentine Gallery London, and the Kemper Art Museum St. Louis. Feldmann’s conceptual strategies have had a lasting impact on contemporary art over several decades.