Esther Schipper (born 1963)[1] is a German art dealer and gallerist.
Early life
Schipper is the daughter of Dutch sinologist
Kristofer Schipper.[2] She was born in
Taiwan and lived there until the age of seven.[3] She later grew up in Paris.[4]
Career
Schipper opened her first gallery in
Cologne in 1989.[5][6] Between 1990 and 1992, Schipper and
Daniel Buchholz also operated Buchholz & Schipper, a shop specializing in
multiples.
In 1995, Schipper opened a project space in Berlin, and moved all of its operations there in 1997.[6][7][8] From 2010 until 2017, the gallery was located in a 500 m2 (5,400 sq ft) space in the former offices of architect Arno Brandlhuber in Berlin's
Tiergarten district.[4] Following negotiations launched in 2014, Schipper acquired the majority shareholding in Jörg Johnen GmbH in 2015[9][10] and then took over both galleries' sites; the Johnen location eventually closed.[11]
In 2017, Esther Schipper moved to a 5,800 sq ft (540 m2) space located inside a former printing facility and warehouse for the local Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel on Potsdamer Strasse; the space was designed by
Selldorf Architects.[12][13] In 2021, the gallery had temporary spaces in
Palma de Mallorca (500 m2 (5,400 sq ft)),
Zhongshan District, Taipei (250 m2 (2,700 sq ft))[14] and the
Tianjin Free-Trade Zone.[15] Since 2022, the gallery has been operating second location in Paris and a third showroom in a four-story building in Seoul's
Itaewon neighbourhood, designed by
StudioMDA.[16]
In addition to her work as a gallerist, Schipper was a member of the
Art Basel art fair's selection committee for ten years[17] and later joined the selection committee of
Frieze Art Fair in New York.[18] She was also one of the co-founders of Berlin's annual Gallery Weekend.[19]
Artists
Esther Schipper represents several living artists, including: