# Horst Antes artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/horst-antes/
Profile generated: 2026-04-30T13:50:19.665Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1936-10-28
- Nationality: German
- Common media: painting, sculpture, watercolor and gouache, printmaking and graphic arts, drawing

## About Horst Antes

Horst Antes (born October 28, 1936, Heppenheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) is a German painter, sculptor, and graphic artist whose career spans more than five decades. Trained at the Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe—where he later returned as a professor—he became a significant figure in postwar German art. His practice encompasses oil painting, sculpture, watercolor, gouache, printmaking, and drawing. Works by Antes are held in major public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Active from roughly 1950 through the late 1990s, he also spent extended periods working in Castellina, Italy. He served as a professor at the Karlsruhe Academy (1967–1971 and again from 1984) and was a guest instructor at the Berlin University of the Arts in 1968.

## Common works and media

Antes is known for paintings in oil and acrylic, watercolors and gouaches, bronze sculptures, and an extensive body of original prints including etchings, lithographs, and woodcuts. Works on paper—drawings and gouaches—appear frequently on the market. Editioned prints from the 1960s through the 1990s make up a significant portion of his auction presence, with 286 works recorded in the RKD images database alone.

## Market and appraisal context

Horst Antes has a deep and liquid secondary market spanning nearly three decades, with 738 auction lots recorded (401 with realized prices) from March 1998 through April 2026. His market is concentrated in German-speaking Europe but reaches international houses. Ten named auction houses—including Christie's, Sotheby's, Grisebach, Kunsthaus Lempertz, Van Ham Kunstauktionen, and Koller Auctions—account for the highest-frequency appearances, confirming sustained institutional demand. Price dispersion is wide: the interquartile range runs from approximately €170 to €4,573, with a median near €360. The lower end is dominated by editioned prints and small works on paper, while important paintings and sculptures from signature series regularly achieve €3,000–€30,000. The top recorded price in this dataset is €280,000. Volume is rising: 90 lots appeared in the most recent 12-month window versus 63 in the prior period, suggesting growing collector interest and consistent supply.

## Auction-house-backed market evidence

Horst Antes has a deep and liquid secondary market spanning nearly three decades, with 738 auction lots recorded (401 with realized prices) from March 1998 through April 2026. His market is concentrated in German-speaking Europe but reaches international houses. Ten named auction houses—including Christie's, Sotheby's, Grisebach, Kunsthaus Lempertz, Van Ham Kunstauktionen, and Koller Auctions—account for the highest-frequency appearances, confirming sustained institutional demand. Price dispersion is wide: the interquartile range runs from approximately €170 to €4,573, with a median near €360. The lower end is dominated by editioned prints and small works on paper, while important paintings and sculptures from signature series regularly achieve €3,000–€30,000. The top recorded price in this dataset is €280,000. Volume is rising: 90 lots appeared in the most recent 12-month window versus 63 in the prior period, suggesting growing collector interest and consistent supply.

### Appraisal notes

Appraisily would use these 738 auction records as a comparable-sales baseline, cross-referenced against the specific work's medium, dimensions, date, signature, condition, provenance, and—for prints—edition size and plate/block details. The dataset includes realized prices from Christie's, Sotheby's, Grisebach, Lempertz, Van Ham, Koller, and numerous regional German houses, providing both blue-chip and mid-market comparables. Key differentiators in valuation are: (1) original paintings and sculptures command the strongest results (€3,000–€30,000+ at major houses), (2) works from the 1960s associated with Antes's signature Kopffüssler motif achieve premiums, as seen in the 1964 'Paar mit Krümmer' selling for €2,500 at Schmidt Kunstauktionen and the '12 Figuren' portfolio reaching €30,000 at Van Ham, (3) individual prints and small works on paper cluster in the €100–€600 range and are sensitive to edition size and condition. Photographs of the work, a condition report, and any gallery or exhibition labels would further refine the appraisal.

### Valuation factors

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### Collector notes

- Antes's market is broad and accessible. Entry-level collectors can acquire signed lithographs and etchings for €100–€500, while paintings and sculptures at major houses regularly reach five figures. The 43% year-over-year increase in lot volume (63 to 90) signals healthy and growing demand. Works are most liquid through German and Austrian auction houses; consigning to Grisebach, Lempertz, or Van Ham will generally achieve the best exposure for mid- to high-value pieces. Buyers should verify authenticity through signature, plate markings, or catalogue raisonné references, as unsigned or attributed-only works trade at a steep discount. The Kopffüssler motif is the most recognizable and commercially sought-after subject across all media.

### Market caveats

- Prices are drawn from Appraisily's auction-record index and may not capture every private sale or gallery transaction.
- The dataset mixes currencies (EUR, USD, GBP, CHF); comparisons across currencies are approximate and do not account for exchange-rate fluctuations at the time of sale.
- Some recent lots lack realized prices (passed or post-sale negotiated), which may understate or skew the observed distribution.
- Specific art-movement associations (e.g., Neue Figuration) and signature motifs (Kopffüssler) were not confirmed in the authority-source excerpts and are inferred from lot titles and art-historical context.
- The top price of €280,000 represents an outlier; the interquartile range (€170–€4,573) is more representative of typical market activity.

### Market evidence sources

- Appraisily: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/horst-antes/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0
- Invaluable: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-horst-antes-b-1936-mid-century-french-paint-and-collage-over-odyssey-etching-after-john-flatman-369-c-dd91db9ce8
- Invaluable: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-horst-antes-signed-lithograph-230-c-ab84426b29
- Invaluable: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-horst-antes-figur-1000-1987-5-c-e355d81ccc
- Invaluable: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-horst-antes-portrat-dreiaugig-238-c-e5e8d2abd4
- Invaluable: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-horst-antes-1936-figure-for-8131-c-3e9089bc1a
- Invaluable: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-horst-antes-untitled-lithograph-767-c-f50e8f3e31
- Invaluable: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-horst-antes-b-1936-vintage-german-modernist-nude-couple-portrait-exhibited-original-watercolor-141-c-7c86a95546
- Invaluable: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-horst-antes-10-c-49eb6c7f3b
- Invaluable: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-horst-antes-9-c-1da9d0b741
- Invaluable: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-horst-antes-paar-mit-krummer-1964-351-c-5134fa102e

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine identity research from museum records, library authority files (VIAF, Library of Congress, RKD), and biographical databases with auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available.

## Sources

- RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/2039
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n50021292
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/194
- VIAF (OCLC): https://viaf.org/viaf/39479138/
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q446519
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horst_Antes