Bruno Bischofberger (born 1940) is a Swiss

art dealer An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and builds relationshi ...

and collector.

Life

Bischofberger was born in 1940 in

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

. He studied art history, archaeology and ethnography (folk art) at the

University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

, with further studies at the universities of

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

and

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

.Chu, Christie (9. Februar 2015)
"A Look Back at Bruno Bischofberger's Weird and Legendary Artforum Ads"

Artnet Artnet.com is an art market website. It is operated by Artnet Worldwide Corporation, which has headquarters in New York City, in the United States, and is owned by Artnet AG, a German publicly traded company based in Berlin that is listed on t ...

, retrieved 1 July 2019. Bischofberger has three daughters and a son and lives near Zurich with his wife Christina, known as ''Yoyo'', in a house designed by

Ettore Sottsass Ettore Sottsass (Innsbruck, Austria 14 September 1917 – Milan, Italy 31 December 2007) was a 20th century Italian architect, noted for also designing furniture, jewellery, glass, lighting, home and office wares, as well as numerous buildings an ...

overlooking Lake Zurich.

Gallery

Bischofberger opened his first gallery in 1963 on Pelikanstrasse in Zurich, then under the name City-Galerie.''Bruno Bischofberger Website''
retrieved 1 July 2019.Hess, Ewa (26 April 2018)
"Galerist zeigt seine Pop-Art"
''

Tages-Anzeiger ''Tages-Anzeiger'' (), also abbreviated ''Tagi'' or ''TA'', is a Swiss German-language national daily newspaper published in Zurich, Switzerland. History and profile The paper was first published under the name ''Tages-Anzeiger für Stadt und K ...

'', retrieved 1 July 2019. In 1965, he hosted his first exhibition of Pop Art at the gallery with works by

Roy Lichtenstein Roy Fox Lichtenstein (; October 27, 1923 – September 29, 1997) was an American pop artist. During the 1960s, along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and James Rosenquist among others, he became a leading figure in the new art movement. Hi ...

Robert Rauschenberg Milton Ernest "Robert" Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the Pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his Combines (1954–1964), a group of artwor ...

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

Tom Wesselmann Thomas K. Wesselmann (February 23, 1931 – December 17, 2004) was an American artist associated with the Pop Art movement who worked in painting, collage and sculpture. Early years Wesselmann was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati. From 1949 ...

Claes Oldenburg Claes Oldenburg (January 28, 1929 – July 18, 2022) was a Swedish-born American sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring large replicas of everyday objects. Another theme in his work is soft sculpture versions ...

and

Jasper Johns Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker whose work is associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and pop art. He is well known for his depictions of the American flag and other US-related top ...

.artnet News (9. Januar 2015)
"Vito Schnabel Taking Over Bruno Bischofberger's Gallery Space"
Artnet, retrieved 1 July 2019. In the 1970s, Bischofberger continued to showcase American Pop Art along with proponents of Minimalism, Land Art and

Conceptual Art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called insta ...

, such as Sol Le Witt,

Donald Judd Donald Clarence Judd (June 3, 1928February 12, 1994) was an American artist associated with minimalism (a term he nonetheless stridently disavowed).Tate Modern websit"Tate Modern Past Exhibitions Donald Judd" Retrieved on February 19, 2009. In ...

Dan Flavin Dan Flavin (April 1, 1933 – November 29, 1996) was an American minimalist artist famous for creating sculptural objects and installations from commercially available fluorescent light fixtures. Early life and career Daniel Nicholas Flavin ...

Bruce Nauman Bruce Nauman (born December 6, 1941) is an American artist. His practice spans a broad range of media including sculpture, photography, neon, video, drawing, printmaking, and performance. Nauman lives near Galisteo, New Mexico. Life and work ...

Joseph Kosuth Joseph Kosuth (; born January 31, 1945), an American conceptual artist, lives in New York and London,

and

On Kawara was a Japanese conceptual artist who lived in New York City from 1965. He took part in many solo and group exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale in 1976. Early life Kawara was born in Kariya, Japan on December 24, 1932. After graduating fro ...

, and representatives of

Nouveau Réalisme Nouveau réalisme (French: new realism) refers to an artistic movement founded in 1960 by the art critic Pierre Restany and the painter Yves Klein during the first collective exposition in the Apollinaire gallery in Milan. Pierre Restany wrot ...

in Paris, such as

Yves Klein Yves Klein (; 28 April 1928 – 6 June 1962) was a French artist and an important figure in post-war European art. He was a leading member of the French artistic movement of Nouveau réalisme founded in 1960 by art critic Pierre Restany. Klein w ...

Daniel Spoerri Daniel Spoerri (born 27 March 1930) is a Swiss artist and writer born in Romania. Spoerri is best known for his "snare-pictures," a type of assemblage or object art, in which he captures a group of objects, such as the remains of meals eaten by in ...

and

Jean Tinguely Jean Tinguely (22 May 1925 – 30 August 1991) was a Swiss sculptor best known for his kinetic art sculptural machines (known officially as Métamatics) that extended the Dada tradition into the later part of the 20th century. Tinguely's art s ...

. Between 1982 and 2005, a three-volume

catalogue raisonné A ''catalogue raisonné'' (or critical catalogue) is a comprehensive, annotated listing of all the known artworks by an artist either in a particular medium or all media. The works are described in such a way that they may be reliably identified ...

of Jean Tinguely's oeuvre was published by Bischofberger's wife Christina. In the 1980s, Bischofberger championed key figures of the nascent

Neo-Expressionist Neo-expressionism is a style of late modernist or early- postmodern painting and sculpture that emerged in the late 1970s. Neo-expressionists were sometimes called '' Transavantgarde'', ''Junge Wilde'' or ''Neue Wilden'' ('The new wild ones'; 'N ...

movements, such as

Miquel Barceló Miquel Barceló Artigues (born 1957) is a Spanish painter. Career Barceló was born at Felanitx, Mallorca. After having studied at the Arts and Crafts School of Palma for two years, he enrolled at the Fine Arts School of Barcelona in 1 ...

Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat (; December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the Neo-expressionism movement. Basquiat first achieved fame as part of the graffiti duo SAMO, alongside Al ...

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George Condo George Condo (born 1957) is an American visual artist who works in painting, drawing, sculpture and printmaking. He lives and works in New York City. Early life Condo was born in Concord, New Hampshire. He studied art history and musi ...

Francesco Clemente Francesco Clemente (born 23 March 1952) is an Italian contemporary artist. He has lived at various times in Italy, India and New York City. Some of his work is influenced by the traditional art and culture of India. He has worked in various art ...

Enzo Cucchi Enzo Cucchi (born 14 November 1949) is an Italian painter. A native of Morro d'Alba, province of Ancona, he was a key member of the Italian Transavanguardia movement, along with his countrymen Francesco Clemente, Mimmo Paladino, Nicola De Maria, ...

, Dokoupil,

Peter Halley Peter Halley (born 1953) is an American artist and a central figure in the Neo-Conceptualist movement of the 1980s. Known for his Day-Glo geometric paintings, Halley is also a writer, the former publisher of ''index Magazine'', and a teacher; he ...

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and

Julian Schnabel Julian Schnabel (born October 26, 1951) is an American painter and filmmaker. In the 1980s, he received international attention for his "plate paintings" — with broken ceramic plates set onto large-scale paintings. Since the 1990s, he has been ...

. In 2009 and 2010, Bischofberger's artists from the 1980s were shown at the Bielefeld Kunsthalle in a pair of exhibitions entitled ''The 80s Revisited – From the Bischofberger Collection I & II''. The presentations also included exponents of the Neue Wilde (New Wild Ones) from Berlin, such as

Rainer Fetting Rainer Fetting (born 31 December 1949 in Wilhelmshaven, Germany) is a German painter and sculptor. Rainer Fetting was one of the co-founders and main protagonists of the Galerie am Moritzplatz in Berlin, founded in the late 1970s by a group o ...

or Salomé, and the Mülheimer Freiheit around Walter Dahn and Dokoupil. Bischofberger has typically maintained close personal relationships with his artists, many of which endure to this day. In 2013, the gallery relocated from Zurich to the grounds of a former factory in the nearby community of

Männedorf Männedorf (High Alemannic: ''Mänidoorf'') is a municipality in the district of Meilen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. History Like in all other villages along the lake of Zürich, archeological findings indicate settlements in the ...

, where since 2005 Bischofberger has been erecting numerous buildings designed by his daughter Nina Bischofberger and her husband Florian Baier.Yablonsky, Linda (23 November 2015)
"A Place for Everything"
''W'', retrieved 1 July. The complex contains the gallery spaces, exhibition and storage areas for the artworks as well as objects from various collections. Since the 1980s, Bischofberger has promoted his exhibitions on the back cover of periodicals such as ''

Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ x 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notabl ...

'' and ''Kunstbulletin''. Instead of showing works from the respective exhibitions, the advertisements have featured photographic scenes of traditional Swiss life. In 2018 the artist

Peter Fischli Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

joined with Hilar Stadler, curator of the Museum im Bellpark in

Kriens Kriens is a city and a municipality in the district of Lucerne in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland. The municipality lies at the foot of the mountain Pilatus, and is a western suburb of Lucerne. History In the oldest documents of the Bened ...

, to stage an exhibition dedicated to these back covers.

Warhol and Basquiat

Bischofberger is especially well known for his close association with Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. He encountered Warhol for the first time in New York in 1966. During a subsequent meeting in 1968, Warhol showed him a number of early unpublished works. Bischofberger was able to select eleven very significant works, including some hand-painted early pieces such as ''Superman'', ''Batman'', a coloured ''Coca-Cola'' painting and several large, often double-panelled ''Disaster'' paintings and early portraits dating from 1961 to 1963. Warhol granted Bischofberger the right of first refusal on any future art works, a commitment that endured until Warhol's death in 1987. Bischofberger travelled several times a year to New York City. In 1970, Warhol painted a portrait of Bischofberger. The latter subsequently proposed a pricing scheme for commissioned portraits with standardized dimensions for clients of the gallery, which would become Warhol's main source of income over the next few years. Bischofberger came across Basquiat's work for the first time in 1981 and one year later became his main art dealer worldwide until the artist's death in 1988. In addition, Bischofberger was responsible for introducing Warhol and Basquiat and later encouraging their collaborations with Francesco Clemente. Warhol and Basquiat continued to collaborate, with the younger artist persuading Warhol to paint by hand again after having worked exclusively with silk screens for 23 years. Bischofberger had the idea for the artistic collaborations after Basquiat made several drawings together with Bischofberger's then three-year-old daughter Cora on a visit to Switzerland. In 1969, Bischofberger founded ''

Interview Magazine ''Interview'' is an American magazine founded in late 1969 by artist Andy Warhol and British journalist John Wilcock. The magazine, nicknamed "The Crystal Ball of Pop", features interviews with celebrities, artists, musicians, and creative thinke ...

'' together with Warhol. In Julian Schnabel's 1996 film ''Basquiat'', Bruno Bischofberger was played by

Dennis Hopper Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker and photographer. He attended the Actors Studio, made his first television appearance in 1954, and soon after appeared in ''Giant'' (1956). In the next ten years ...

.IMDb
Basquiat (1996)

Publications

* �
Andy Warhol's Visual Memory
in: Bruno Bischofberger, ''Andy Warhol's Visual Memory'', Edition Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, 2001, pp. 9ff.; (in German) Carl Haenlein (ed.), ''Andy Warhol Fotografien 1976–1987'', Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover, 2001, pp. 13ff. * �
A Brief History of My Relationship with Andy Warhol
, in: (expanded version for foreword) Bruno Bischofberger, ''Andy Warhol's Visual Memory'', Edition, Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, 2001, pp. 6–7; Magnus Bischofberger, ''Prehistory to the Future: Highlights from the Bischofberger Collection'', Electa, Milan, 2008, pp. 258–259
"Collaborations: Reflections on the Experiences with Basquiat, Clemente and Warhol"
in: (edited version) Magnus Bischofberger, ''Prehistory to the Future: Highlights from the Bischofberger Collection'', Electa, Milan, 2008, pp. 262ff.; (unedited version) Tilman Osterwold (ed.), ''Collaborations: Warhol, Basquiat Clemente'', Cantz, Ostfildern-Ruit, 1996, pp. 39ff.

References

External links

Gallerie Bruno Bischofberger
Zürich and St. Moritz. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bischofberger, Bruno Swiss art dealers 1940 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Contemporary art galleries in Switzerland