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 relationsh ...

and collector.

Life

Bischofberger was born in 1940 in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

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

University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

, with further studies at the universities of

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

and

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

.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. It is owned by Artnet AG, a German publicly-traded company based in Berlin that is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Ex ...

, 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 (; 14 September 1917 – 31 December 2007) was an Italian architect and product designer. He was known for his designs of furniture, jewelry, glass, lighting, homeware and office supplies. He also worked on 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 ( ; October27, 1923September29, 1997) was an American pop artist. He rose to prominence in the 1960s through pieces which were inspired by popular advertising and the comic book style. Much of his work explores the relations ...

Robert Rauschenberg Milton Ernest "Robert" or "Bob" 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 Combine painting, Combines (1954� ...

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

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. From 1949 to 1951 he atten ...

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, draftsman, and printmaker. Considered a central figure in the development of American postwar art, he has been variously associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and ...

.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 Land art, variously known as Earth art, environmental art, and Earthworks, is an art movement that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, largely associated with Great Britain and the United StatesArt in the modern era: A guide to styles, schools, & mo ...

and Conceptual Art, such as Sol Le Witt,

Donald Judd Donald Clarence Judd (June 3, 1928February 12, 1994) was an American artist associated with minimalism.Tate Modern websit"Tate Modern Past Exhibitions Donald Judd" Retrieved on February 19, 2009. In his work, Judd sought autonomy and clarity for ...

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 Flavi ...

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) is a Hungarian-American conceptual artist, who lives in New York and Venice,

and

On Kawara was a Japanese conceptual artist who lived in SoHo, New York City, from 1965 until his death. He took part in many solo and group Art exhibition, exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale in 1976. Early life Kawara was born in Kariya, Japan on ...

, and representatives of

Nouveau Réalisme A ''nouveau'' ( ), or ''vin (de) primeur'', is a wine which may be sold in the same year in which it was harvested. The most widely exported ''nouveau'' wine is French wine Beaujolais ''nouveau'' which is released on the third Thursday of ...

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 wa ...

Daniel Spoerri Daniel Spoerri (; 27 March 1930 – 6 November 2024) was a Romanian-born Swiss visual artist and writer. He is considered to be an important figure among the artists within the so-called "second wave" of the Pop art movement. Spoerri is best kno ...

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.Chilvers, Ian; Gl ...

. Between 1982 and 2005, a three-volume

catalogue raisonné A (or critical catalogue) is an annotated listing of the works of an artist or group of artists and can contain all works or a selection of works categorised by different parameters such as medium or period. A ''catalogue raisonné'' is normal ...

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 modernism, late modernist or early-Postmodern art, postmodern painting and sculpture that emerged in the late 1970s. Neo-expressionists were sometimes called ''Transavantgarde'', ''Junge Wilde'' or ''Neue Wild ...

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 de Mallorca, Palma for two years, he enrolled at the Fine Arts School ...

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 notoriety in the late 1970s as part of the graffiti ...

, Mike Bidlo, George Condo,

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 a ...

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, Samuel Spieler,

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 a ...

. 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 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 German, High Alemannic: ''Mänidoorf'') is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Meilen (district), Meilen in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zurich (canton), Zürich in Switzerland. His ...

, 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 × 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notably ...

'' 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 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 An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" re ...

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

Dennis Hopper Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker, photographer and visual artist. He was considered one of the key figures of New Hollywood. He earned prizes from the Cannes Film Festival and Venice Internatio ...

.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 Contemporary art galleries in Switzerland