Franz Erhard Walther was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany. Between 1957 and 1961 he studies at the Werkkunstschule in Offenbach and the Academy of Fine Arts in Frankfurt. In 1962 he transfers to the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where he graduates from Karl Otto Goetzs' class in 1964. Walther lives in New York between 1967 and 1971. He participates in Documenta 5, 6, 7 and 8. From 1971 until 2005 he holds a chair at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Hamburg (class for sculpture), where he leaves behind a big legacy. Among his students are Martin Kippenberger, Christian Jankowksi, Santiago Sierra, John Bock, Lilly Fischer, Jonathan Meese, Andreas Slominski. Since 2006 he lives and works in Fulda again.