The Sprüth Magers Gallery in Berlin, drawing on the history of exhibits accompanying each issue of the magazine Eau de Cologne (which the gallery financed during the 1980s), put together a new group show that reflects on the position that female artists then occupied and on the changes that have occurred in the intervening years. Even though the market for these artists’ work has dramatically expanded over the last thirty years, the question of disparity between the careers of men and women artists has not yet been resolved.
In mid-1980s Cologne, two gallerists, Philomene Magers and Monika Spruth, immersed in a totally masculine artistic landscape, decided to give voice to female art historians and to support the work of women artists who, ever since, have known international acclaim.

Installation view Eau de Cologne, Sprüth Magers, Berlin, 2015, © Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Louise Lawler, Cindy Sherman, Rosemarie Trockel

Installation view Eau de Cologne, Sprüth Magers, Berlin, 2015, © Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Louise Lawler, Cindy Sherman, Rosemarie Trockel

Between 1985 and 1989 Monika Spruth published three issues of the magazine Eau de Cologne, created in collaboration with the artists Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Louise Lawler, Cindy Sherman, and Rosemarie Trockel. The publication, which contained portraits, interviews, and essays, was the product of German and American artists, critics, and art-world personalities. These three issues of the magazine, as well as the as the three exhibitions that took place in the gallery in 1985, 1987, and 1993, constitute the origin of a recent group exhibit which brought together work created by the original artists between 1980 and 2015. On display were Louise Lawler’s Bunny Sculpture and Painting (Adjusted to Fit) (1999/2015) and original prints of Barbara Kruger’s 1996 covers for Dazed and Confused magazine (1996), but also new multi-frame works from Cindy Sherman, made up of unpublished images from both her early projects and more recent work. By celebrating the work of these artists, the gallery confirmed their unwavering support of women in art.

At Sprüth Magers Berlin, from 17th September to 21st October 2015