Franz West

Franz West (1947–2012) was an Austrian artist whose practice moved from the Passstücke — small sculptural prostheses designed to be held, worn, or carried by the viewer — toward furniture, seating, social use, and sculpture as something completed through the body and behaviour of others. His work treated looking, sitting, reading, and conversation as part of the object’s life.

West represented Austria at the Venice Biennale in 1990 and 1992, and his work has been exhibited internationally at institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Modern, London; and the Centre Pompidou, Paris. He was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale in 2011.

Items in this section include exhibition publications, catalogues, and printed matter in which West’s sculptural and social objects pass from gallery and museum into distributable printed support.

  • Stapled softcover booklet, Franz West, Museum Haus Lange, Krefelder Kunstmuseen, Krefeld, 1989. Cover: black-and-white installation photograph by Günther Förg — two wire-frame chair sculptures on white plinths, dark reflective floor, white gallery walls. Black serif text above: 'FRANZ WEST · MUSEUM HAUS LANGE'. Good vintage condition, light handling marks. Interior spread, Franz West, Museum Haus Lange, Heft 1, Krefelder Kunstmuseen, Krefeld, 1989. Left page: essay 'Fremdkörper und Eigenwerte' by Julian Heynen in small serif type, two columns; italic epigraph from Jean Paulhan: 'Was heißt Informel?'; caption lower left '17 Ohne Titel 1989'. Right page: colour photograph of Franz West, Ohne Titel, 1989 — compact cubic papier-mâché sculpture, surface painted in pale pink, blue, grey, and cream with visible brushwork; set against warm cream ground. Photograph

    FRANZ WEST — Museum Haus Lange, Heft 1 & Heft 2, Krefelder Kunstmuseen, Krefeld, 1989

    FRANZ WEST — Museum Haus Lange, Heft 1 & Heft 2, Krefelder Kunstmuseen, Krefeld, 1989