Anatol Herzfeld (Karl-Heinz Herzfeld by birth) was born in 1931. Herzfeld was a pupil of Joseph Beuys at the Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf. The artist, mainly appears under the first name Anatol, works primarily in sculpture with the materials wood, iron and stone in his studio at the museum island Hombroich. He follows the concept of his master Joseph Beuys of the social sculpture, which gives art the power to social change. A number of solo exhibitions have honoured his work; for example at the Germanic National Museum, Nuremberg (1989), and at the Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen (1992).

Anatol Herzfeld was born in 1931 in Insterburg, East Prussia, and became known as a sculptor, performance artist, and educator closely associated with the postwar Düsseldorf art scene. Before turning to art, Anatol worked in the police force, an experience that informed his later interest in social structures, authority, and civic responsibility. He went on to study Fine Arts at the Düsseldorf Art Academy under Joseph Beuys and Architecture under Karl Wimmenauer, placing him at the center of one of the most influential artistic environments of the period.

In 1975 Anatol founded the Free Academy Oldenburg, an independent institution dedicated to open artistic exchange and experimental practice. From 1979 to 1981 he returned to the Düsseldorf Art Academy as a lecturer, continuing his engagement with pedagogical work and the Beuysian tradition of expanded artistic practice. He participated in documenta V in Kassel, a landmark exhibition that underscored his position within contemporary debates on sculpture, performance, and social art.

Anatol later worked extensively on Insel Hombroich, contributing to the site’s unique synthesis of art, architecture, and landscape. Throughout his career, Anatol Herzfeld developed a practice rooted in material directness, human presence, and the belief in art as a social and transformative force. He died in Moers in 2019.