For a decade Hans-Peter Feldmann, who has died aged 82, dropped out of the art world and turned to dealing in antiques: mostly selling tin toys and nautical and medical instruments from a small shop in Düsseldorf. In a way, however, nothing had changed, as Feldman’s art was always about collecting, be it his taxonomical arrangements of found images, his vitrine installations of objects ranging from the slightly creepy (the contents of women’s handbags), or the geeky (stamps).
In 2012, for the artist’s solo exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery in London, Feldmann persuaded six women to sell him the complete contents of their handbags for €500; the assortment of keys, business cards, sunglasses, notebooks, receipts, comfortable shoes, sanitary products and makeup were displayed in museological fashion. Likewise, Stamps with Paintings and Passepartouts (2016), featured long shelves of card-mounted postage stamps from various countries and times, all featuring historical paintings of nudes, mostly female.
