Monika Sprüth (born May 18, 1949 in

Memmingen Memmingen (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Memmenge'') is a town in Swabia (Bavaria), Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It is the economic, educational and administrative centre of the Danube-Iller region. To the west the town is flanked by the Iller, the ...

) is a German art dealer and co-founder of

Sprüth Magers Sprüth Magers is a commercial art gallery owned by Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers, with spaces in London, Berlin, Los Angeles, and New York, and offices in Cologne, Hong Kong, and Seoul. The gallery represents over sixty artists and estat ...

Early life and education

Monika Sprüth graduated from high school in

Landstuhl Landstuhl (), officially the Sickingen Town of Landstuhl (), is a town in the district of Kaiserslautern, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the Municipal Association of Landstuhl. Situated on the north-west edge of the Palatin ...

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

in 1968 and first studied architecture at the

RWTH Aachen University RWTH Aachen University (), in German ''Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen'', is a German public research university located in Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With more than 47,000 students enrolled in 144 study prog ...

between 1968 and 1975.Rose-Maria Gropp (June 30, 2009)
Werden Sie Präsidentin des 1. FC Köln, Frau Sprüth?
''

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The (; ''FAZ''; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' ( ...

''. She then worked as an urban planner in

Oberhausen Oberhausen (, ) is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen ( ). The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Rout ...

until 1980, later as a teacher of secondary school construction, maths and art in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

Career

In 1983, she opened the ''Monika Sprüth Galerie'' in the ''Südstadt'' district of Cologne with an exhibition by Andreas Schulze. She initially exhibited young, at the time still unknown female artists such as

Rosemarie Trockel Rosemarie Trockel (born 13 November 1952) is a German conceptual artist. She has made drawings, paintings, sculptures, videos and installations, and has worked in mixed media. From 1985, she made pictures using knitting-machines. She is a pro ...

,Carsten Probst (October 8, 2011)
Mehr als nur Stricken
''

Deutschlandfunk Kultur Deutschlandfunk Kultur (; abbreviated to ''DLF Kultur'' or ''DKultur'') is a culture-oriented radio station and part of Deutschlandradio, a set of three national radio stations in Germany. Initially named ''DeutschlandRadio Berlin'', the station ...

''.

Cindy Sherman Cynthia Morris Sherman (born January 19, 1954) is an American artist whose work consists primarily of photographic self-portraits, depicting herself in many different contexts and as various imagined characters. Her breakthrough work is often co ...

Barbara Kruger Barbara Kruger (born January 26, 1945) is an American conceptual artist and collagist associated with the Pictures Generation. She is most known for her visual word art that consists of black-and-white photographs, overlaid with declarative ca ...

and

Jenny Holzer Jenny Holzer (born July 29, 1950) is an American neo-conceptual artist, based in Hoosick, New York. Her work focuses on the delivery of words and ideas in public spaces and includes large-scale installations, advertising billboards, projectio ...

,Martin Herbert (March 12, 2009)
The Other Half
''

Frieze Magazine ''Frieze'' is an international contemporary art magazine, published eight times a year from London. The publication is part of the London and New York–based media and events company Frieze. Frieze comprises two publications, ''frieze'' magaz ...

''. whom she helped to achieve international recognition, "thus breaking the trend of the art market, which until then had been determined by male artists". Monika Sprüth is also instrumental in developing the early careers of artists such as

Peter Fischli & David Weiss Peter Fischli (born 8 June 1952) and David Weiss (21 June 1946 – 27 April 2012), often shortened to Fischli/Weiss, were a Swiss artist duo that collaborated since 1979. Their best-known work is the film ''Der Lauf der Dinge'' (''The Way Things ...

Louise Lawler Louise Lawler (born 1947) is a U.S. artist and photographer living in Brooklyn, New York City.Louise L ...

Andreas Gursky Andreas Gursky (born 15 January 1955) is a German photographer and professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany. He is known for his Large format (photography), large format architecture and Landscape photography, landscape colour photog ...

Thomas Demand Thomas Cyrill Demand (born 1964) is a German sculptor and photographer. He currently lives and works in Berlin and Los Angeles, and teaches at the University of Fine Arts, Hamburg. He makes photographs of three-dimensional models that look like ...

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 ...

, Axel Kasseböhmer and

Thomas Scheibitz Thomas Scheibitz (born 1968 in Radeberg, East Germany) is a German painter and sculptor. Together with Tino Sehgal he created the German pavilion on the 51st Venice Biennale in 2005. He lives and works in Berlin. Life and work The son of an East ...

. Monika Sprüth associated the founding of her gallery with the concern to offer visibility to female artists.Björn Rosen, Susanne Kippenberger (August 29, 2016)
Die Galeristin Monika Sprüth über ihre Fußballleidenschaft
''

Der Tagesspiegel (meaning ''The Daily Mirror'') is a German daily newspaper. It has regional correspondent offices in Washington, D.C., and Potsdam. It is the only major newspaper in the capital to have increased its circulation, now 148,000, since reunificati ...

''. Between 1985 and 1989, this feminist position led to three exhibitions entitled ''Eau de Cologne'', which focused on a female discourse on art. The exhibitions presented positions that dealt with the role of women, as in the works of Barbara Kruger, Cindy Sherman, Jenny Holzer, Louise Lawler,

Gretchen Bender Gretchen Bender (1951 in Seaford, Delaware – December 19, 2004 in New York City) was an American artist who worked in film, video, and photography. She was from the so-called 1980s Pictures Generation of artists, which included Cindy She ...

and Rosemarie Trockel. The magazine of the same name lent emphasis to the gallery's program: in the three issues of ''Eau de Cologne'', Monika Sprüth, as editor, presented many German and American women artists as well as female protagonists who had a decisive influence on the art and culture of the time in the form of portraits, picture series, conversations, and texts.Charles Teyssou, Pierre-Alexandre Mateos (October 2022)
Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers on creating new female role models
''

Art Basel Art Basel is a for-profit, privately owned and managed, international art fair staged annually in Basel (Switzerland), Miami Beach (US), Hong Kong and Paris. Art Basel provides a platform for galleries to show and sell their work to buyers, an ...

Stories''. The covers of the three magazines were designed by Barbara Kruger, Cindy Sherman and Rosemarie Trockel. In 1988, Monika Sprüth presented two group exhibitions entitled ''Das Licht von der anderen Seite I+II''. The first exhibition with the subtitle ''Malerei'' united works by George Condo, Walter Dahn, Axel Kasseböhmer,

Albert Oehlen Albert Oehlen (born 17 September 1954) is a German painter, installation artist and musician. He lives and works in Bühler, Switzerland and Segovia, Spain.

Salvo A salvo is the simultaneous discharge of artillery or firearms including the firing of guns either to hit a target or to perform a salute. As a tactic in warfare, the intent is to cripple an enemy in many blows at once and prevent them from f ...

, Andreas Schulze and other painters. The second exhibition, subtitled ''Photographie'', featured works by

Richard Prince Richard Prince (born August 6, 1949) is an American painter and photographer. In the mid-1970s, Prince made drawings and painterly collages that he has since disowned. His image ''Untitled (Cowboy)'', a photographic reproduction of a photograph ...

, Cindy Sherman,

Jeff Wall Jeffrey Wall, Order of Canada, OC, Royal Society of Canada, RSA (born September 29, 1946) is a Canadian photographer. He is artist best known for his large-scale back-lit Cibachrome photographs and art history writing. Early in his career, he h ...

, Fischli/Weiss,

John Baldessari John Anthony Baldessari (June 17, 1931 – January 2, 2020) was an American conceptual artist known for his work featuring found photography and appropriated images. He lived and worked in Santa Monica and Venice, California. Initially a paint ...

Ed Ruscha Edward Joseph Ruscha IV (, ''roo-SHAY''; born December 16, 1937) is an American artist associated with the anti- pop art movement. He has worked in the media of painting, printmaking, drawing, photography, and film. He is also noted for creating s ...

and

Bernd and Hilla Becher Bernhard "Bernd" Becher (; 20 August 1931 – 22 June 2007), and Hilla Becher, née Wobeser (2 September 1934 – 10 October 2015), were German conceptual artists and photographers working as a collaborative duo. They are best known for their e ...

, among others. These exhibitions showed central postmodern positions of new American and German conceptual painting and photography. Together with

Philomene Magers Philomene Magers (born 1965) is a German art dealer and co-owner of Sprüth Magers in Berlin, London, and Los Angeles, along with Monika Sprüth. Career The daughter of an art dealer in Bonn,Britta Bürger (May 25, 2016)Philomene Magers: Galeristi ...

, Monika Sprüth founded the gallery Sprüth Magers, Cologne in 1998. This was followed by branches in Munich (2000), London (2003) and Berlin (2008). The exhibition activities in Cologne and Munich were discontinued with the move to Berlin (2008). In 2016, Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers opened a gallery space in Los Angeles and an office in Hong Kong. In 2022, another gallery space followed in New York.monopol (June 9, 2022)
Sprüth Magers eröffnet Galerie in New York
'' monopol''. In addition to artists already mentioned, Sprüth Magers represents

Alighiero Boetti Alighiero Fabrizio Boetti, known as Alighiero e Boetti (16 December 1940 – 24 April 1994) was an Italian Conceptual Art, conceptual artist, considered to be a member of the art movement Arte Povera. Background Boetti is most famous for a se ...

Thea Djordjadze Thea Djordjadze ( ka, თეა ჯორჯაძე; born 1971 in Tbilisi, Georgia) is a contemporary German-Georgian artist based in Berlin, Germany. She is best known for sculpture and installation art, but also works in a variety of other med ...

Cao Fei Cao Fei ( zh, 曹斐, ; born 1978) is a Chinese multimedia artist born in Guangzhou. Her work, which includes video, performance, and digital media, examines the daily life of Chinese citizens born after the Cultural Revolution. Her work explores ...

, Cyprien Gaillard,

Karen Kilimnik Karen Kilimnik (born 1955) is an American painter and installation artist. Life and work Karen traveled through much of the United States and Canada as a young child. She often spoke of Russell, Manitoba as being an inspiration for her later wo ...

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, ) is a Germany, German Electronic music, electronic band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk was among the first successful a ...

, Reinhard Mucha, David Ostrowski,

Bridget Riley Bridget Louise Riley (born 24 April 1931) is an English painter known for her op art paintings. She lives and works in London, Cornwall and the Vaucluse in France. Early life and education Riley was born on 24 April 1931 in West Norwood, No ...

Sterling Ruby Sterling Ruby (born January 21, 1972) is an American artist who works in a large variety of media including ceramics, painting, drawing, collage, sculpture, video, and textiles. Often, his work is presented in large and densely packed installatio ...

Ryan Trecartin Ryan Trecartin (born 1981) is an American artist and filmmaker currently based in Athens, Ohio. He studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, graduating with a BFA in 2004. Trecartin has since lived and worked in New Orleans, Los Angeles, Phi ...

Andro Wekua Andro Wekua ( ka, ანდრო ვეკუა) (born 1977) is a Georgian artist based in Zurich, Switzerland, and Berlin, Germany. Wekua was born in Sokhumi and witnessed an ethnic conflict in Abkhazia in the 1990s. His father, the Georgian ...

and

Kara Walker Kara Elizabeth Walker (born November 26, 1969) is an American contemporary painter, silhouettist, printmaker, installation artist, filmmaker, and professor who explores Race (classification of human beings), race, gender, human sexuality, sexual ...

, among others.

Other activities

* Monika Sprüth is an appointed member of the German Academy for Soccer Culture. * In 2017, Monika Sprüth exhibited her personal art collection at the ''MEWO-Kunsthalle'' in her native town of Memmingen with the exhibition ''Never Enough: Monika Sprüth und die Kunst''.''Never Enough: Monika Sprüth und die Kunst'', May 19–September 3, 2017, ''MEWO-Kunsthalle'', Memmingen

/ref>

Recognition

Since 2009, Monika Sprüth, together with Philomene Magers, has been included in the "Power 100 List" of the international magazine

ArtReview ''ArtReview'' is an international contemporary art magazine based in London, founded in 1948. Its sister publication, ''ArtReview Asia'', was established in 2013. History Launched as a fortnightly broadsheet in February 1949 by a retired country ...

among the 100 most influential people in the art business, most recently in 30th place in 2022. In 2014, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' named her in their "Movers and makers: the most powerful people in the art world". Tobias Timm describes Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers in ''

Die Zeit (, ) is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The first edition of was ...

'' "as the most successful female gallery owners in the world."Tobias Timm (February 25, 2016)
Warm, aber sexy
''

''. Max Hollein, director of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, summarizes the gallery owner's activities in ''

Bilanz ''Bilanz'' (, ''Balance'') is a biweekly business magazine published in Zürich, Switzerland, which has been in circulation since 1977. The magazine started its edition in Germany in 2014. History and profile ''Bilanz'' was established in 1977 ...

'' in December 2016: "What is almost more impressive is how long and continuously the gallery has successfully worked with the artists, and how they, in turn, have remained perpetually loyal to the gallery ... Max Hollein: ''Starke Beziehungen'', ''

'' vol. 3, December 2016, pp.78–79

Honors

* 2019:

Order of Merit of Berlin The Order of Merit of Berlin () is this highest award of the German State of Berlin. Awarded in the name of the Senate of Berlin, the order had recognized outstanding contributions to the State of Berlin since 21 July 1987. Awarded each year on 1 ...

* 2022:

ART COLOGNE Art Cologne is an art exhibition, art fair held annually in Cologne, Germany and was established in 1967 as ''Kölner Kunstmarkt''. It is regarded as the world's oldest art fair of its kind. The fair runs for six days and brings together galleries ...

Prize

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sprüth, Monika Living people 1949 births Businesspeople from Cologne German art dealers Women art dealers People from Memmingen Recipients of the Order of Merit of Berlin RWTH Aachen University alumni Art gallery owners