Franz West valuation
Austrian sculptor of lumpy papier-mâché Adaptives, furniture and big lacquered aluminium forms meant to be used.
Franz West (1947–2012) was born in Vienna, the son of a coal dealer and of a dentist who took him to see art in Italy.
What a work by Franz West is worth
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Bio
Franz West (1947–2012) was born in Vienna, the son of a coal dealer and of a dentist who took him to see art in Italy. He came to art school late, studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna under Bruno Gironcoli from 1977 to 1983. He made drawings from around 1970 and then painted collages of magazine images, before turning, in reaction to Viennese Actionism, to sculpture that asked to be handled: the Adaptives, or Fitting Pieces, portable forms of plaster and papier-mâché to be held or worn, and welded metal chairs and divans upholstered in raw linen. His early sculptures covered bottles, machine parts and other found objects in gauze and plaster. From the late 1990s he made large lacquered aluminium sculptures, the first of them inspired by the shape of Viennese sausages, and he was a regular presence at documenta and the Venice Biennale.
His output runs from collages and works on paper to papier-mâché sculptures, furniture and large aluminium pieces, some made in editions. Papier-mâché and plaster are fragile and painted surfaces chip, and outdoor aluminium pieces should be checked for dents and damage to the lacquer. Labels, any archive certificate and the date of the work help to place it.
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