Horst Antes (German, b.1936) is a painter, printmaker, and sculptor, and is regarded as one of the founders of new figurative painting in Germany. Born in Heppenheim, Bergstraße, Antes studied at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Karlsruhe, under prominent woodcutter HAP Grieshaber between 1957 and 1959. The artist received early recognition, winning the Kunstpreis from the city of Hanover and German Youth Art Award in 1959.

His early works straddled the boundary between figurative art and Art Informel, and often drew inspiration from the art of Willem de Kooning, whom Antes greatly admired. First arising in the early 1960s, the artist’s Kopffüßler (literally translated, "head footer")—figures without necks, and very little chest and stomach—became his signature. In Antes’s view, he was creating sculptures that had been reduced to the essential, primal human, and has since produced many variations of this figure.

Also during the 1960s, the artist received several scholarships and awards, including the Villa Roma Prize in Florence in 1962, and the Villa Massimo Scholarship in Rome in 1963.

In 1966, Antes accepted a teaching position at the academy in Karlsruhe. Between 1967 and 1973, he held a professorship at Karlsruhe, as well as a one-year guest professorship at the Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Berlin. In 1984, Antes returned to his teaching post in Karlsruhe, and remained there for the next 16 years.

In 1989, the southern German city of Stuttgart awarded Antes the Hans-Molfenter-Preis. Antes’s works have been exhibited throughout the world, and are represented in major collections, including the Dallas Museum of Art, the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, and the Kunstmuseum Basel in Switzerland.

Antes currently divides his time between Karlsruhe, Florence, and Berlin.