Elger Esser
- Elger Esser
- Work
Sfeir-Semler Gallery Beirut, 2011
Elger Esser (b. 1967, Stuttgart) lives and works in Düsseldorf, where he also studied photography at the Academy of Fine Arts under Bernd and Hilla Becher and graduated in 1997. Since 2006 Esser has his own professorship for artistic photography at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design.
Although having studied under the conceptual thoughts of the Bechers, Esser never applied their typical grid pattern. Essers work focusses on calm and reposeful landscape motifs that are simple in composition and produced on large format.
As a photographer Esser has partaken in many national and international exhibitions in museums and galleries since the mid-1990s. His works are represented in several public collections, among others at the Metropolitan Museum New York, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the Lenbachhaus Munich or the Fonds national d’art Contemporain Paris. In 2016 Esser was awarded with the Oskar-Schlemmer-Prize.
Selected Solo Exhibitions | |
| 2022 | A family story, Collection (s) Robelin, Museum of Contemporary Art Lyon, Lyon, France |
| 2021 | Art Movement. 20 new projects, Museum Schloss Moyland, Bedburg-Hau, Germany |
| 2019 | Morgenland, Fondation Fernet Branca, Saint-Louis, France |
| 2017 | Morgenland, Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art, London Elger Esser – Aetas Landesgalerie Linz. Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Linz |
| 2016 | Elger Esser - zeitigen, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Germany |
| 2015 | IRIDES, Villa Knast, Salzburg, Austria |
| 2014 | Elger Esser, Fundació Palma Espai d’art, Palma de Mallorca, Spain Elger Esser: Ab Olympo, Galleria Alessandra Bonomo, Rome, Italy |
| 2013 | Meseglise, Institut für Moderne Kunst, Nürnberg, Germany Elger Esser. Giverny, Heliogravuren, Schirmer und Mosel, Munich, Germany Nocturens à Giverny. Photographies de Elger Esser, Galerie Photo du Pôle Image Haute-Normandie, Rouen, France |
| 2012 | Elger Esser. Lichte Weite, Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn, Germany Illusion, Upstairs Gallery, Oldenburg, Germany |
| 2011 | Nocturnes, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France Kunstforum Baloise Elger Esser - Voyage en Egypte, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney, Australia Kunstforum Baloise, Basel, Swizerland |
| 2010 | Elger Esser. Landschaften - Veduten - Ansichten - Heliogravüren, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Arnhem, The Netherlands |
| 2009 | Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Germany Sonnabend Gallery, New York, USA Dominik Mersch Gallery, Waterloo/Sydney, Australia Galleria Bonomo, Bari, Italy Rencontres d’Arles, France Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen, Le Château, Caen, France Saone and Rhone, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France |
| 2008 | Galerie Johnen & Schöttle, Köln, Germany Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria FO.KU.S, Innsbruck, Austria |
| 2007 | Sonnabend Gallery, New York, USA Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany Combray, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France |
| 2006 | Johnen & Schöttle Gallery, Munich, Germany Musée de Vannes, France Kunstraum Deutsche Bank, Salzburg, Austria Galeria Fúcares, Madrid, Spain Galerie De Zaal, Delft, Netherlands |
| 2005 | Johnen & Schöttle Gallery, Cologne, Germany |
| 2004 | Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany De Zaal Gallery, Delft Fondation Herzog, Basel, Switzerland |
| 2003 | Kunsthalle Rostock, Germany Schirmer Mosel Showroom, Munich, Germany |
| 2002 | Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany |
| 2001 | Johnen & Schöttle Gallery, Cologne Elger Esser, Villa Knast, Salzburg, Austria |
| 1999 | Sonnabend Gallery, New York, USA Galeria Andreas Grimm, Palma de Mallorca, Spain n.e.g.-gallery, Milano, Italy |
| 1998 | Kunstverein, Siegen, Germany Galerie Friebe, Lüdenscheid, Germany Galerie 213, Paris, France Kunstraum, Düsseldorf, Germany |
| 1997 | Galeria Andreas Grimm, Palma de Mallorca, Spain Kunstverein, Hagen, Germany |
| 1995 | Siedlungen in Düsseldorf, Kulturbahnhof, Eller, Germany |
Selected Group Exhibitions | |
| 2023 | Photographies sur Cuivre, Fontevraud Modern Art Museum, Fontevraud-L'Abbaye, France Le Lys dans la Vallée, Fondartion des Artistes, Rotonde Balzac, Paris, France Earth: A Retrospective.The Last Grito I The Collection for Love of Art, Bombas Gens Art Center, Valencia, Spain |
| 2019 | Zwischen Nähe und Distanz: Konstruktion von Wirklichkeiten. Von Goya bis Picasso, Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Germany |
| 2018 | The Sonnabend Collection: Half a Century of European and American Art. Part II, Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto, Portugal Entfesselte Natur, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany |
| 2017 | Water, Clouds, Wind, Kunsthalle Würth, Schwäbisch Hall, Germany Split – Mirror. Light. Reflection, SCHAUWERK Sindelfingen, Germany |
| 2016 | Magical Surfaces: The Uncanny in Contemporary Photography. Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art, London, United Kingdom |
| 2015 | Bert de Beul, Elger Esser, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany Gallery 3010, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon |
| 2014 | Soli Deo Gloria. Christine Schäfer & Elger Esser: Recital and Art, Braunschweig Festival, Schafstall Bisdorf, Braunschweig, Germany |
| 2013 | OLD SCHOOL Anachronismus in der zeitgenössischen Kunst, Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Germany Desaster / The End of Days, Galerie Taddaeus Ropac, Paris, France |
| 2012 | Kalte Rinden - Seltene Erden, Stadtgalerie Kiel, Germany Il Fuoco Della Natura / The Flash of Nature, Salone degli Incanti, ex Pescheria, Trieste, Italy Exposition photographique: Eaux précieuses – Eaux sauvages, Galerie d'art du Conseil général, Hôtel de Castillon, Aix-en-Provence, France Les Territoires du désir ou les métamorphoses d'un musée imaginaire, Musée d'Art moderne André Malraux, MuMa, Le Havre, France |
| 2011 | lichtempfindlich – Zeitgenössische Photographie aus der Sammlung Schaufler, Sindelfingen, Germany Kunst befreit! Neupräsentation der Sammlung, Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Germany Ileana Sonnabend. An Italian Portait, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy |
| 2010 | Der Rote Bulli: Stephan Shore and the new Düsseldorf Photography, NRW-Forum Kultur und Wirtschaft Düsseldorf, Germany |
| 2009 | TAGO-MAGO Galería Fúcares, Almagro, Spain Siedlungen und Wohnanlagen 1858 - 1937, Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf, Germany Voyages pittoresques: Normandie 1820-2009. Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen, Caen, France Rencontre de la Photographie, Abbaye de Montmajour, Arles, France 6 views of photography, Galerie de Zaal, Delft, Netherlands Sammlung Lothar Schirmer, Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste, Munich, Germany Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, Austria |
| 2008 | True North, Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, Germany Französische Landschaften, FO.KU.S, Foto Kunst Stadtforum, Innsbruck, Austria Landschaft als Metapher, Ursula-Blickle-Stiftung, Kraichtal, Germany |
| 2007 | FOTO.KUNST, Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg, Germany berlin_nl, Niederländische Botschaft, Berlin, Germany Less Roses, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon Seestücke, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Germany |
| 2006 | Paisajes, Galeria Arnes y Röpke, Madrid, Spain Arcadia, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, USA Room with a view, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Den Haag, Netherlands Les Peintres de la vie moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France Fotokunst aus NRW, Flottmann Hallen, Herne, Germany |
| 2005 | Flight 405, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany and Beirut, Lebanon Aeroplastics contemporary, Bruxelles, Belgium Landschaft als Metapher, Ursula-Blickle-Stiftung, Kraichtal, Germany Angekommen, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Germany The City: Conteporary Views..., Lehman College Art Gallery, New York, USA |
| 2004 | Vague II Hommages et digressions, Musee Malraux, Le Havre, France Imágenes en movimiento // Moving Pictures, Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain Art History: Photography References Painting, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, USA |
| 2003 | Biennial of Photography, Moscow, Russia Moving Pictures, Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA |
| 2002 | Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany 10 young german artists, Galerie de zaal, Delft, Netherlands |
| 2001 | Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany |
| 2000 | Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Ireland Thomas Segal Gallery, Baltimore, USA Hue-Williams Fine Art, London, United Kingdom |
| 1999 | Insight-out, Kunstraum Innsbruck, Austria Views from the edge of the world, Marlborough Gallery, New York, USA Lawrence Beck, Elger Esser, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Sonnabend Gallery, New York, USA |
Awards | |
| 2016 | Oskar-Schlemmer-Preis |
| 2010 | Rheinischer Kunstpreis |
Public Collections | |
| Kunstmuseum Stuttgart; Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; Metropolitan Museum New York; Albright Knox Gallery Buffalo; FNAC, Paris; Kunsthaus Zürich; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam Sichting de Pont,Tilburg; Lenbachhaus München Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg/Wien; Fonds national d’art contemporain, Paris, Guggenheim Collection, New York, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich Kunstmuseum | |