Franz West (1947–2012) was an Austrian sculptor, born in Vienna. He is best known for his 'Adaptives' (Passstücke), portable plaster sculptures intended to be handled by viewers, and for his lumpy, brightly lacquered papier-mâché and aluminium works. His playful, interactive practice challenged conventional boundaries between art object, furniture and audience.

West began making art in Vienna in the 1960s, against the backdrop of Viennese Actionism, and later studied sculpture under Bruno Gironcoli at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna from 1977 to 1982. He represented Austria at the 1990 Venice Biennale and exhibited at documenta IX in 1992 and documenta X in 1997. The Wolfgang Hahn Prize followed in 1998, and in 2011 the 54th Venice Biennale awarded him the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. He died in Vienna in 2012. Retrospectives include To Build a House You Start with the Roof, shown at the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2008 and 2009; Where Is My Eight? at mumok in Vienna in 2013; and a survey organized by the Centre Pompidou in 2018 that traveled to Tate Modern in 2019. His work is in the collections of MoMA, Tate, the Centre Pompidou, the Walker Art Center and the Albertina.