Karsten Greve

Karsten Greve (born 15 September 1946 in Dahme, Brandenburg, Germany) is a German art dealer, publisher and owner of Galerie Karsten Greve in Cologne, St Moritz, Paris and formerly Milan, specialized in the international postwar avant-garde, contemporary art and photography.

Karsten Greve
Born15 September 1946
Dahme, Brandenburg, Germany
NationalityGerman
EducationUniversity of Geneva, University of Lausanne, University of Cologne
OccupationArt dealer, publisher
Known forOwner of Galerie Karsten Greve
Spouse(s)Claudia Greve
Children3
Websitewww.galerie-karsten-greve.com
Not to be confused with Karsten Grove.

In 2014, Greve was listed as one of Artnet News’ Most Admired Art Dealers [1] and was included in Blouin's Art + Auction 2012 [2] and 2013 [3] Power 100 list and has been referred to as one of Europe's most influential art dealers.[4][5][6]

Life and career

Karsten Greve was born in Dahme, Germany.[5] The middle child of three sons of a medical doctor, he attended school in Berlin and Siegen. He studied Law and Art History in Cologne, Lausanne and Geneva. As a student, he began to build his own art collection, acquiring his first painting by Cy Twombly in 1966. By the age of 23 he had bought works by Twombly, Beuys, Fontana, Yves Klein, de Kooning, Cornell, and Kounellis.[7] In 1970, together with Rolf Möllenhof (born 1939, Chemnitz), he directed the Möllenhof/Greve Galerie. In 1972, he became the sole proprietor of Galerie Karsten Greve in its original Cologne Lindenstraße location, debuting with an Yves Klein solo exhibition of his Anthropometry series. In 1989, Karsten Greve opened a second space in Paris, in 1994 a third location in Milan (closed 2002) and another in St Moritz in 1999.

Karsten Greve has an interest in vintage design furniture and is an avid collector of items by the likes of Robert Mallet-Stevens, Le Corbusier and Pierre Chareau.[8] He acquired a part of the rue Mallet-Stevens Hôtel Martel.[9][8][10][11] Karsten Greve is married and the father of three children.[12][13]

Significance in the art world

Karsten Greve was among the first to set up an exhibition space in the Marais in Paris during the late 1980s and was also the first to open a gallery in St Moritz.[5]

During a career of 40 years as an international art dealer, Karsten Greve significantly contributed to the worldwide recognition of artists such as Louise Bourgeois – as the first to exhibit her in Europe [14] - John Chamberlain, Lucio Fontana, Jannis Kounellis, Piero Manzoni and Cy Twombly, of which up to two thirds of the works in today's market were sold by him initially.[15][16] His intimate friendships with these artists[17] provided the basis for his programme, which is defined by the international avant-garde after 1945.

Karsten Greve on meeting Cy Twombly for the first time: "It was 1969. I was 23 and had just opened a gallery in Cologne. He was living in Rome, in a 16th-century palace that had no names on the door. I eventually figured out where he lived. I went to his apartment a couple of times and rang the bell but he never answered. Eventually, he heard from others that a crazy young German wanted to meet him and he let me in."[16]

Karsten Greve earned a reputation for his carefully curated presentations at art fairs and museum quality exhibitions [18][19][20][21][22][23][24] and has been lauded for his ability to recognize the relevance of artist's work long before their rise to international recognition.[19][25]

Greve curated a Cy Twombly solo show at the 1996 São Paulo Biennale. From 1997 to 2003 he was chair of the Art Cologne jury.[26][27] He was also part of the Art Basel selection committee and the FIAC selection committee.[28]

Greve holds the Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (Cavaliere Ufficiale), which he received in December 1998.[29]

Philanthropy

Karsten Greve supports the Jewish National Fund (קרן קימת לישראל, Keren Kayemet LeYisrael) in its environmental efforts and afforestation project. In 2013 he made a donation of 1 Mio. Eur to enable the expansion of the Deutsches Romantik-Museum in Frankfurt am Main, after the City of Frankfurt surprisingly dropped out as a donor.[30][31] In 2015 he was one of the donors who gifted the Leiko Ikemura sculpture Usagi Kannon to the Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst [32] in Cologne. He gifted the Lucio Fontana work Natura to the Museum Ludwig and Pierre Chareau furniture [33] to the Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Cologne.

References
  1. "The Most Admired Art Dealers of 2014". artnet News. 24 December 2014.
  2. "Power Dealers, Blouin art+auction Power 100 2012".
  3. "Power Dealers, Blouin art+auction Power 100 2013".
  4. Clewing, Ulrich (30 November 2013). "Wenn Neutrale aggressiv werden". Süddeutsche Zeitung.
  5. Knapp-Voith, Valentina (June 2016). "Ich mag Aussenseiter". St. Moritz Magazin.
  6. Groß, Roland (7 December 2000). "Da prallen provinz- und Weltniveau aufeinander". Saarbrücker Zeitung.
  7. "You Could Get A Lichtenstein Graphic At That Time For 80 Or 90 Marks". Silatec publication: Art Protect Prevent Colour From Fading Away. 2014.
  8. Ribeyre. "Mallet Stevens : Enchères". www.malletstevens.com. Retrieved 2017-02-15.
  9. Hôtel Martel.
  10. "PSS / Villa-Atelier Martel (Paris, France)". www.pss-archi.eu. Retrieved 2017-02-15.
  11. "Maison rue Mallet-Stevens - Faubourg Conseil Immobilier". Faubourg Conseil Immobilier (in French). 2014-12-10. Archived from the original on 2017-02-16. Retrieved 2017-02-15.
  12. www.museum-folkwang.de (in German) https://www.museum-folkwang.de/index.php?id=5071&L=0&tx_news_pi1%5Bnews%5D=301&tx_news_pi1%5Bcontroller%5D=News&tx_news_pi1%5Baction%5D=detail&cHash=a9b33d68e906488ccc156548b6e37fb0. Retrieved 2017-02-15. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. ""Der Kunstmarkt lebt, aber die Mitarbeiter leiden": Der Galerist Karsten Greve über die deutsche und internationale Messelandschaft und die Probleme der Galeriearbeit. Schanghai ist attraktiver als Berlin - WELT". DIE WELT. Retrieved 2017-02-15.
  14. Francoise-Claire, Prodhon (January–February 1993). Flash Art. XXVI (168). Only rarely has Bourgeois’ work been exhibited in France; the large-scale retrospective at the Musée de Lyon in 1990 and this outing at Karsten Greve both went down as something of an event. By presenting prevalently recent pieces alongside a selection of older works, the show affords an insight into the work in all its complexity and ambivalence, […].” Missing or empty |title= (help)
  15. Groß, R. (7 August 2003). "Ein Galerist der Weltgeltungskünstler". Der Standard.
  16. Genocchio, Benjamin (December 2013). "Q&A with Karsten Greve". Blouin art+auction.
  17. Muf (7 August 2001). "M.O.RITZ – neue Arbeiten von John Chamberlain". Engadiner Post. „Inspiriert wurde Chamberlain zu dieser Arbeit vergangenen Februar. Er war – zur Erholung nach einer Operation – Gast seines Galeristen in St. Moritz. Weil es ihm und seiner Frau hier so gut gefallen hat, begann er unter diesem Eindruck die Arbeit an „Candied Delights“ oder M.O.RITZ, wie er die Objekte auch nennt.“
  18. Smolik, Noemi (9 February 2015). "Joel Shapiro Triumphs at Galerie Karsten Greve". artnet News.
  19. Wirth, Heidrun (15 October 2009). "Königsmacher mit Spürsinn". Kölnische Rundschau.
  20. Thon, Ute (15 June 2016). "Art Basel 2016 - Basler Leckerli". art Magazin. Archived from the original on 8 February 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  21. Kliemann, Thomas (April 2016). "Die alte Tante macht sich fein". General Anzeiger Bonn.
  22. Wirth, Heidrun (16 November 2011). "Verborgene Zeichen, Museumsreif: Galerie Greve zeigt Brassai-Dubuffet". Kölnische Rundschau.
  23. Raap, Jürgen (4 April 1994). "Räume der Angst". Kölner Illustrierte. „Ein museumsreifes Programm von John Chamberlain bis Picasso macht schon seit längerem das Profil der Galerie Greve aus, und auch jetzt gibt es Hochkarätiges zu sehen: Zeichnungen und frühe Skulpturen von Louise Bourgeois in den Räumen am Wallrafplatz […]“
  24. Henle, Susanne (2 August 1997). "Vorm Paradies drückt man sich die Nase platt". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. „Greves Offerte erreicht hier museales Niveau. Insgesamt ist die Schau, die sich in den diesjährigen Sommermonaten auch an die internationalen, von der documenta angelockten art people wendet, als strategisch eingesetzte Kunstmarktoffensive zu werten.“
  25. Groß, R. (August 2003). "Ein Galerist der Weltgeltungskünstler". Der Standard.
  26. ""Art Cologne": Der Kunstmarkt rotiert" (in German). Retrieved 2017-02-15.
  27. Blomberg, Katja (2000-11-06). "Art Cologne: Die Schmerzgrenze ist erreicht". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. ISSN 0174-4909. Retrieved 2017-02-15.
  28. FIAC, Paris Archived 2015-11-16 at the Wayback Machine.
  29. web, Segretariato generale della Presidenza della Repubblica-Servizio sistemi informatici- reparto. "Le onorificenze della Repubblica Italiana". Quirinale. Retrieved 2017-02-08.
  30. Michels, Claudia (10 September 2013). "Versuch's mal bei Privat". Frankfurter Rundschau.
  31. Murr, Günter (14 June 2016). "Spatenstich mit Stiefeln". Frankfurter Neue Presse.
  32. "Katalog zur Ausstellung "Leiko Ikemura – All about Girls and Tigers"". issuu. Retrieved 2017-02-15.
  33. "Pierre Chareau exhibition uncorrected proofs - essays". issuu. Retrieved 2017-02-15.
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