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Olivier Berggruen

{{Short description|German-American art historian and curator}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Olivier Berggruen

| image = Oliver Mark - Nicolas Berggruen and Olivier Berggruen, Berlin 2008.jpg

| caption = Nicolas Berggruen and Olivier Berggruen photographed by Oliver Mark, Berlin 2008

| birth_name = Olivier Berggruen

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1963|09|14|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Winterthur, Switzerland

| citizenship = {{plainlist|

  • United States
  • Germany}}

| education = École alsacienne

| alma_mater = Brown University (AB)
Courtauld Institute of Art (AM)
University of London (AM)

| occupation = Art historian, curator

| party = Democratic

| spouse = {{marriage|Desiree Hayford-Welsing
|1998}}

| children = 2

| mother = Bettina Moissi

| father = Heinz Berggruen

| relatives = {{plainlist|

| website = {{URL|olivierberggruen.com|Official website}}

}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

Olivier Berggruen (born 14 September 1963) is a German-American art historian and curator,A. K. Thomson, [https://www.ft.com/content/a7e83d76-c60c-11e7-b30e-a7c1c7c13aab "'Homeless billionaire' Nicolas Berggruen on putting down LA roots"], The Financial Times, November 13, 2017. "Olivier, [Nicholas] Berggruen's brother, is an influential New York-based art historian and curator."{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/05/arts/design/05alle.html|title=Rule No. 1: Don't Yell, 'My Kid Could Do That' |last=Allen|first=Greg|date=2006-11-05|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-01-19|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} described by the Wall Street Journal as playing "a pivotal role in the art world."Mary M. Lane, [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324021104578553701450065138 "A Family's Legacy Grows in Berlin"], The Wall Street Journal

Early life and education

Born in Winterthur, Switzerland, Berggruen is the son of noted German art collector Heinz Berggruen and actress Bettina Moissi. He graduated from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and completed his graduate studies at the Courtauld Institute of Art at the University of London, where he studied with Anita Brookner, who was his advisor.{{cite web|url=http://www.venetiakapernekas.com/htdocs/picasso.php |title=venetia kapernekas gallery |website=Venetiakapernekas.com |date=2008-06-13 |access-date=2016-06-21}}{{cite web|url=http://artforum.com/passages/id=60245 |title=Olivier Berggruen on Anita Brookner (1928–2016) - artforum.com / passages |website=Artforum.com |access-date=2016-06-21}}

Career

He briefly worked at the auction house Sotheby's in London, before serving as curator at the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt.{{cite web|last=Korman |first=Sam |url=http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-features/news/playing-with-form/ |title=The Brazilian Form - News - Art in America |website=Artinamericamagazine.com |date=2011-10-14 |access-date=2016-06-21}}{{cite web|url=http://www.artsetsocietes.org/a/a-berggruen.html |title=Arts & Sociétés |website=Artsetsocietes.org |date=2006-06-29 |access-date=2016-06-21}}{{Cite journal|last=Poggi|first=Christine|date=2019-01-02|title=Stage at the Edge of the Sea: Picasso's Scenographic Imagination|journal=The Art Bulletin|volume=101|issue=1|pages=90–118|doi=10.1080/00043079.2018.1504550|s2cid=192534803|issn=0004-3079}} He has lectured at numerous institutions, including Carnegie Mellon University, the Frick Collection, The National Gallery in London, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C., the 92nd Street Y, the National Gallery of Canada, NYU's Global Institute for Advanced Study, and the Paris Institute of Political Studies.{{Cite web|url=https://www.gallery.ca/whats-on/calendar/in-conversation-olivier-berggruen-and-anabelle-kienle-ponka|title=In Conversation: Olivier Berggruen and Anabelle Kienle Poňka|website=www.gallery.ca|language=en|access-date=2018-10-28}}{{Cite web|url=https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/5691467/goncourt-brothers-and-taste-eighteenth-century-tuesday-january|title="Goncourt Brothers and the Taste for the Eighteenth Century," Tuesday, January 28, 2020, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. {{!}} H-Announce {{!}} H-Net|website=networks.h-net.org|access-date=2020-02-25}}{{Cite web|date=2016-02-08|title=The Future of Classical Music|url=https://gias.nyu.edu/projects/the-future-of-classical-music/|access-date=2021-07-24|website=Global Institute for Advanced Study|language=en-US}} He served as committee chairman of the Thomas J. Watson Library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and was the recipient of the 2009 Berliner Zeitung Media Award.{{cite web |url=http://www.metmuseum.org/~/media/Files/About/Annual%20Reports/2014-2015/Annual%20Report%202015%20Visiting%20Committees.pdf |title=Archived copy |website=www.metmuseum.org |access-date=13 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160804201828/http://www.metmuseum.org/~/media/Files/About/Annual%20Reports/2014-2015/Annual%20Report%202015%20Visiting%20Committees.pdf |archive-date=4 August 2016 |url-status=dead}}

Berggruen has curated a number of international exhibitions, such as a retrospective of Yves Klein at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and one of Beatrice Caracciolo at the French Academy in Rome.{{cite web|url=http://www.sismus.org/museums/budget/Guggenheim/GMB.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701121737/http://www.sismus.org/museums/budget/Guggenheim/GMB.pdf |url-status=usurped |archive-date=1 July 2016 |title=Guggenheim Museum Bilbao |website=Sismus.org |access-date=2016-06-21}} He is a contributor to the Huffington Post, for which he writes articles on art, literature, and philosophy.{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/olivier-berggruen |title=Olivier Berggruen |website=Huffingtonpost.com |access-date=2016-06-21}} Additionally, he has written extensively on Picasso, Yves Klein, and Henri Matisse, among others, for organizations including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, publications such as Artforum and The Print Quarterly, and for Gagosian Gallery, for which he contributed with University of Cambridge professor Mary Jacobus.{{cite web|url=https://www.guggenheim.org/publication/picasso-black-and-white |title=Picasso Black and White |website=Guggenheim.org |date= 2012-12-24|access-date=2016-06-21}}{{cite web|url=http://www.gagosian.com/now/cy-twombly |title=Cy Twombly |website=Gagosian.com |access-date=2016-06-21|date=2015-12-11 }} His first book, The Writing of Art, is a series of essays, which explores aesthetics through the lens of twentieth-century art, tracing movements and trends such as the ontological discontinuity of modernism in Picasso's ballets. In 2016, the Italian government commissioned Berggruen to curate an exhibition to celebrate the centennial of Picasso's Italian journey. “Picasso: From Cubism to Classicism, 1915 to 1925,” was held at Rome's Scuderie del Quirinale from September 22, 2017, through January 21st, 2018.Alexandra Wolfe.[https://www.wsj.com/articles/picassos-productive-roman-holiday-1504890060?shareToken=steba87531aadd46798e1b65da243ca72d&reflink=article_email_share "Picasso's Productive Roman Holiday], Wall Street Journal, September 8th, 2017.{{Cite journal|last=McDonald|first=Alison|date=October 9, 2017|title=Picasso in Italy: An Interview with Olivier Berggruen|url=https://gagosian.com/quarterly/2017/10/09/picasso-italy-interview-olivier-berggruen/|journal=Gagosian Quarterly}} In 2019, he co-curated an exhibition on Picasso and antiquity at the Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens, which won a 2019 Global Fine Art Award.{{Cite web|url=https://cycladic.gr/en/page/20-000-episkeptes-stin-ekthesi-pikaso-kai-archaiotita-grammi-kai-pilos|title='Picasso and Antiquity. Line and Clay' attracted 20K visitors in the first two months|website=Museum of Cycladic Art|language=en|access-date=2019-09-22}}{{Cite web|title=2019 Award Winners and Honorable Mentions|url=http://globalfineartawards.org/index.php/2019-award-winners/|website=Global Fine Art Awards|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-28}}

Berggruen was guest editor for the July/August 2020 edition of The Brooklyn Rail, and in 2021 curated a Picasso exhibition at Acquavella Galleries.{{Cite web|last=Berggruen|first=Olivier|date=2020-07-09|title=State of Affairs|url=https://brooklynrail.org/2020/07/editorsmessage/State-of-Affairs|access-date=2020-07-09|website=The Brooklyn Rail|language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Rhodes |first=David |date=2021-11-02 |title=Picasso: Seven Decades of Drawing |url=https://brooklynrail.org/2021/11/artseen/Pablo-Picasso-Seven-Decades-of-Drawings |access-date=2024-05-31 |website=The Brooklyn Rail |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Bors |first=Chris |date=2021-11-03 |title=Pablo Picasso |url=https://www.artforum.com/events/pablo-picasso-4-249117/ |access-date=2024-05-31 |website=Artforum |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2021-10-26 |title=The Critic's Notebook {{!}} The New Criterion |url=https://newcriterion.com/2021/10/the-critics-notebook-12299/ |access-date=2024-05-31 |language=en-US}} He is an artistic adviser to the Menuhin Festival Gstaad.{{Cite web|title=Organisation of the Gstaad Menuhin Festival & Academy|url=https://www.gstaadmenuhinfestival.ch/en/about-us/organisation|access-date=2021-04-08|website=www.gstaadmenuhinfestival.ch}}

In 2024, Berggruen’s book Formes du désir: Une brève histoire de la collection d’art, was published in French.{{Cite web |title=Olivier Berggruen : Formes du désir - Les presses du réel (book) |url=https://www.lespressesdureel.com/EN/ouvrage.php?id=11551&menu=0 |access-date=2024-10-20 |website=www.lespressesdureel.com}}

Personal life

Berggruen lives in New York City with his wife, Desiree, whom he met while both were studying at Brown. She is a physician, and together they have two children, Tobias and Ana.{{Cite web|url=http://www.steinway.com/news/features/owners/olivier-berggruen|title=The Curator — Olivier Berggruen - Steinway & Sons|website=www.steinway.com|language=en|access-date=2018-03-22}} Berggruen has additional homes in Paris and Gstaad, Switzerland.{{Cite news|url=https://issuu.com/mdruck/docs/gml_2020_low|title=The Berggruen Family and the Gstaad Connection to the Art World: An Encounter with Olivier Berggruen|last=Tschanz|first=Hans-Ueli|work=Gstaad My Love}} His brother is billionaire and philanthropist Nicolas Berggruen; he additionally has two half-siblings, John, a San Francisco-based art dealer, and Helen, a painter.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/27/arts/design/27berggruen.html|title=Heinz Berggruen, Influential Picasso Collector, Dies at 93|newspaper=The New York Times|date=27 February 2007 |access-date=2016-06-21 |last1=Riding |first1=Alan }}{{cite web|last=Ward |first=Vicky |url=http://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/a5994/nicolas-berggreun-interview/ |title=Nicolas Berggreun Interview- Why Nicolas Berggreun is Creating an Institute for Geniuses |website=Townandcountrymag.com |date=2016-05-11 |access-date=2016-06-21}}{{Cite web|url=http://blogs.kcrw.com/dna/jacques-herzog-explains-spheres-design-berggruen-institute|title=Jacques Herzog explains the spheres in his design for the Berggruen Institute {{!}} Design & Architecture|website=blogs.kcrw.com|language=en-US|access-date=2018-06-17|date=2017-09-05}}

"[Nicolas] Berggruen [is the] son of the late Heinz Berggruen, a prominent art dealer, and brother of art critic and historian Olivier Berggruen."{{Cite news|url=https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/g23653039/most-influential-culture-defining-families-2018/?slide=2|title=The T&C 50: The Most Influential Families in Media, Art, and Culture|date=2018-10-17|work=Town & Country|access-date=2018-10-23|language=en-US}} He serves on various committees at institutions across the world, including Brown University, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Tate Modern, Picasso Museum in Paris, Courtauld Institute, Museum Berggruen, and Mariinsky Ballet.{{cite web|url=http://mariinsky.us/about/?sitemap=1&file=%2F |title=Mariinsky Foundation of America |website=mariinsky.us |access-date=2016-06-24}}[https://www.brown.edu/academics/libraries/john-carter-brown/about/governance Board of Governors, John Carter Brown Library of Brown University] He additionally sits on the Board of Trustees of Carnegie Hall, the Berggruen Institute, and Brown University's John Carter Brown Library.{{Cite web|title=Board of Directors Archives|url=https://www.berggruen.org/people/group/board/|access-date=2020-06-22|website=Berggruen Institute|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.carnegiehall.org/en/About/Leadership-and-Staff/Board-of-Trustees|title=Board of Trustees|website=www.carnegiehall.org|language=en|access-date=2019-06-14}}{{Cite web|title=Board of Governors {{!}} John Carter Brown Library|url=https://jcblibrary.org/about/leadership/board-governors|access-date=2020-06-22|website=jcblibrary.org}} He has also donated to the campaigns of several Democratic Party candidates, including Barack Obama and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.{{Cite web|url=https://www.fec.gov/|title=Browse Individual contributions|website=FEC.gov|language=en|access-date=2019-08-05}}

Selected publications

  • The Writing of Art, Pushkin Press, 2012.{{cite web|url=http://philpapers.org/rec/BERTWO-8 |title=Olivier Berggruen, The Writing of Art |website=PhilPapers.org |date=2012-03-25 |access-date=2016-06-21}}
  • "The Fragmented Self" in Dieter Buchart ed., Jean-Michel Basquiat: Now's the Time, Prestel, 2015.
  • "The Theater as Metaphor" in Olivier Berggruen and Max Hollein eds., Picasso and the Theater, Hantje Cantz, 2007.
  • Editor (with Max Holbein), Henri Matisse: Drawing with Scissors: Masterpieces from the Late Years, Prestel, 2006.
  • “Ed Ruscha: Ribbon of Words” in Ed Ruscha: The Drawn Word, Edited with Essay, Windsor Press (2004), pp. 1 – 7
  • “The Prints of Jean-Michel Basquiat”, Print Quarterly, XXVI (2009): pp. 28 – 38
  • “The Future of Painting” in Portraits Lost in Space: George Condo, Pace Wildenstein, New York (1999), pp. 30 – 34
  • “The Realm of Pure Sensations” in Playing With Form: Neoconcrete Art From Brazil, Edited with Essay, Dickinson New York (2011), pp. 19 – 27
  • “Picasso & Bacon: Painting the Other Self” in Francis Bacon and the Tradition of Art, Edited by Wilfried Seipel, Barbara Steffen, Christoph Vitali, Skira Editore S.p.A. (2003), pp. 71 – 83
  • “The Summons to Living Things to Return Home” in Cy Twombly: Bacchus, Gagosian Gallery, 2005, pp. 5 –15
  • “The Landscape of the Mind” in Agnes Martin, Thomas Ammann Fine Art AG Zurich (2008)

References

{{Reflist|2}}

External links

  • [https://www.olivierberggruen.com/projects/ Olivier Berggruen official website]
  • [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324021104578553701450065138 Profile of Olivier Berggruen] in the Wall Street Journal
  • [http://artforum.com/passages/id=60245 Obituary of Anita Brookner] by Olivier Berggruen in Artforum
  • [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/olivier-berggruen/art-collecting-purpose_b_5496884.html "Collecting Art: Philanthropy or Self-Glorification?"] by Olivier Berggruen in the Huffington Post
  • [http://www.artsetsocietes.org/a/a-berggruen2.html "Ludwig Wittgenstein and the World of Objects"] by Olivier Berggruen, lecture delivered at Sciences Po, October 19, 2016.
  • [http://stg.picasso-sculptures.fr/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Olivier-Berggruen_Reelle-presences.pdf "Réelle Présences: Des Éléments Décoratifs des Ballets Parades et Mercure Considérés en tant que Sculptures"], by Olivier Berggruen, lecture delivered at the Musée Picasso's colloquium on sculpture, March 24, 2016. (In French.)
  • [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKYPuEBUgeA Berggruen speaking on Picasso and antiquity, Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens]

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Category:1963 births

Category:Living people

Category:Brown University alumni

Category:Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art

Category:People associated with the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Category:People associated with the Courtauld Institute of Art

Category:American art historians

Category:American art critics

Category:American art curators

Category:American people of Albanian descent

Category:American people of Austrian descent

Category:American people of German-Jewish descent

Category:Berggruen family