Elger Esser

Elger Esser, Sfeir-Semler Gallery Hamburg, 2011
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

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

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