Karsten Schubert (1961 – 2019)

We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of our friend, the influential London-based gallerist, collector, author and publisher, Karsten Schubert. Here’s his obituary in The Guardian plus a lovely article from artnetnews.

“He was an incredibly principled person, and had a very wicked, very British sense of humour.”Norman Rosenthal (former Exhibitions Secretary at the Royal Academy of Arts, London)

“I will miss Karsten’s exceptional eye, his breadth of knowledge and his good advice, his ridiculous sense of humor [… ] He was such fun to be with. His generosity is legendary, and we will all miss him.” — Alison Wilding OBE RA (Artist, former Turner Prize nominee)

Among his many endeavours in the art world (spanning four decades) Karsten created the cutting-edge art publisher, Ridinghouse which is important to us and one we are very proud to represent. He was always very supportive of the work that we do here at Cornerhouse Publications, and very proud of Ridinghouse himself:

“The Ridinghouse name carries on in a publishing house, producing high-end works of art history and criticism, and artist’s monographs. Schubert was perhaps proudest of this”Charles Darwent (The Guardian, 1 August 2019)

Karsten was a key figure in the successes of the YBA generation in the late 1980s (exhibiting the work of artists such as Anya Gallaccio and Michael Landy) and later went on to be a significant promoter of Bridget Riley’s work. The book he wrote in the year 2000, The Curator’s Egg is a bestseller – a brilliant and fascinating tour-de-force in art and museological history.

“His gallery helped to quickly place young artists [such as Whiteread, Hume and Landy] in an international context, and in doing so played a major role in the complete transformation of the London art world in the 1990s… He will be greatly missed by all those who knew him.”Michael Craig-Martin (Artist and Emeritus Professor of Fine Art at Goldsmiths, London)

Karsten was a lovely, generous man of the arts. Recently he gifted his collection of Cézanne artworks to the Whitworth art gallery, here, in Manchester. He will be much missed but his cultural legacy is unforgettable and he leaves his publisher, Ridinghouse in the most capable hands to ensure that it will continue to make some of the finest books on art history and criticism, and artists’ monographs that you will rest your eyes and hands on.

We shall miss you, Karsten.

 

Photo credit: Karsten Schubert photographed by Helen Taylor, October 1990. Photo: Lady Helen Taylor
Posted on 2nd August 2019
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