Galerie Bärbel Grässlin was founded in Frankfurt/Main in 1985. 

Among other things, the gallery program focuses on German positions of the 1980s and 1990s with an international reputation, such as Werner Büttner, Günther Förg, Georg Herold, Hubert Kiecol, Martin Kippenberger, Meuser, Reinhard Mucha and Markus Oehlen. These artists, whose work can primarily be classified as painting, sculpture and photography have been represented by the gallery since the start of their careers. Exhibitions with Dan Flavin and Imi Knoebel have expanded the gallery’s profile with conceptual/minimalist positions since the late 1980s. Austrian artists such as Herbert Brandl, Franz West and Heimo Zobernig also firmly belong to the gallery’s roster.

The gallery’s connection to the local art scene, in particular the Städelschule, has meant that over the years, artists such as Michael Beutler, Stefan Müller, Tobias Rehberger and Thomas Werner were taken up by the gallery. Since the early years of this millennium, artists such as Jean-Marc Bustamante, Secundino Hernández and Andreas Slominski have been supplementing the gallery program with sculptural/conceptual positions.

With her international program, Galerie Bärbel Grässlin has been pivotal in invigorating the Frankfurt art scene. The decision for the location was a gamble: In the mid-1980s the banking capital was a “white spot on the art map” (Bärbel Grässlin), a status that did not change until the end of the decade, when the head of cultural affairs at the time, Hilmar Hoffmann, nominated key art scene players to important posts in the cultural realm: In 1988, Kasper König was appointed head of the Städelschule, and in turn installed internationally renowned artists as professors at the school and founded the Portikus exhibition hall, while in 1989, Jean-Christophe Ammann came to the Museum für Moderne Kunst (MMK) as founding director. Thanks to these farsighted decisions, Frankfurt developed into an attractive location for the fine arts, which today enjoys an international reputation. The restaffing of the museums with Philipp Demandt und Susanne Gaensheimer, as well as of the Städelschule with Philippe Pirotte due to generational change has contributed to a continuation of this positive trend.

Galerie Bärbel Grässlin’s program is featured at the following art fairs: ARCO Madrid, Art Basel, Art Basel Miami Beach, Art Cologne, FIAC Paris.

For more detailed information, see website.