Biography

Louise Lawler
(Born 1947)

Louise Lawler was born in 1947 in Bronxville, New York. She graduated from Cornell University in 1969. Lawler developed her individual style during the early 1980s, a time of intense growth in the overall economy and in the art market. Within this environment material goods were seen as a demonstration of power and financial wealth and artworks became associated with the possession of cultural capital. Lawler began creating mostly photographic works that include images of artworks by other artists as they were displayed within collector’s homes or even within artistic institutions. In this sense, her images become an exploration of the social, economic and environmental factors that shape the definition of the work of art within our culture. By depicting other artist’s works of art within her own, Lawler's images pose an interesting challenge to traditional ideas of originality, authorship, the influence of context in the meaning of a work of art and of the market in its commercialization.

Louise Lawler has exhibited extensively throughout the United States and Europe. Recent solo exhibitions of her work have been held in institutions such as the Wexner Center in Ohio in 2006, Dia Beacon in Beacon New York in 2005, and the Museum for Gugenwartskunst, Kunstmuseum Basel in Switzerland in 2004. She has also participated in exhibitions in major institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Museum of Art in Oslo, and the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Lawler has participated in two Whitney Biennials, and her work has been featured in multiple publications. Louise Lawler lives in Brooklyn, New York.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2012
(Selected). Louise Lawler, Galerie Neue Meister, Albertinum, Dresden (cat.)
2011
No Drones, Sprüth Magers, London
Fitting at Metro Pictures, Metro Pictures, New York
2010
Later, Yvon Lambert, Paris
2009
Sprüth Magers, Berlin
2008
Sucked In, Blown Out, Obviously Indebted or One Foot in Front of the Other, Metro Pictures, New York
2007
No Official Estimate, Yvon Lambert, Paris
Where is the Nearest Camera, Sprüth Magers, London (2007-2008)
Louise Lawler: The Tremaine Pictures 1984-2007, BFAS Blondeau Fine Art Services, Geneva (cat.)
2006
Twice Untitled and Other Pictures (looking back), curated by Helen Molesworth, Wexner Center, Ohio (cat.)
2005
In and Out of Place: Louise Lawler and Andy Warhol, Dia, Beacon
2004
Louise Lawler and Other Artists, Museum for Gugenwartskunst, Basel, Switzerland (cat.)
Looking Forward, Metro Pictures, New York
Not There, Sprüth Magers, London
2003
Selected Works 1980-2000, 5 Rue de la Muse, Geneva
Probably Not in the Show, Portikus, Frankfurt
New Walls, Yvon Lambert, Paris
Add to It, Portikus, Frankfurt
2001
Galerie Meert Rihoux, Brussels
Dunn-Rite and Other Pictures, Studio Guenzani, Milan
Controlled Temperature, Art & Public, Geneva
2000
Paint, Wood, Plaster, Fabric, Glass and Other Pictures, Richard Telles Fine Art, Los Angeles
More Pictures, Metro Pictures, New York
More Pictures, Neugeriemschneider, Berlin
1999
'Hand On Her Back' and Other Pictures, Monika Sprüth Galerie, Cologne
The Tremaine Series,1984, Skarstedt Fine Art, New York
An Exhibition of Photographs by Louise Lawler From 1985 through 1993 Selected and Installed by Jürgen Becker, Jürgen Becker, Hamburg
1998
Pictures That May or May Not Go Together, Gallery Larsen, Stockholm
1997
Monochrome, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. (brochure with text by
Phyllis Rosenzweig)
Statue, Metro Pictures, New York
Farbe, Wände, Bilder, Monika Sprüth Galerie, Cologne
1996
It Could Be Elvis and Other Pictures, Galerie Six Friedrich, Munich
S.L Simpson Gallery, Toronto
Fixed Intervals (two-person exhibition with Allan McCollum), John Weber Gallery, New York
1995
A Spot on the Wall, Munich Kunstverein, Germany; Neue Galerie; Graz; De Appel, Amsterdam (cat.)
1994
Press-papiers, cartes postales, images et cannibalisme, Centre d'Art Contemporain, Geneva
External Stimulation, Galleria Klemens Gasser, Bolzano, Italy; Monika Spruth Galerie, Cologne; Studio
Guenzani, Milan
External Stimulation, Metro Pictures, New York
Studio Guenzani, Milan
1993
Sprengel Museum, Hannover
1992
Galerie Isabella Kacprzak, Cologne
1991
Galerie Meert Rihoux, Brussels
Metro Pictures, New York
1990
A Vendre, Galerie Yvon Lambert, Paris
The Enlargement of Attention, No One Between the Ages of 21 and 35 is Allowed, Connections: Louise Lawler, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
1989
How Many Pictures, Metro Pictures, New York
The Show Isn't Over, Photographic Resource Center, Boston
1988
Les Objets, Galerie Meert Rihoux, Brussels
Vous Avez Déjà Vu Ça, Galerie Yvon Lambert, Paris
Work by Louise Lawler and Allan McCollum and Fixed Intervals as Matter of Agreement, Le Consortium, Dijon (two-person exhibition with Allan McCollum)
Investigations 1988, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (Phampletwith essay by Jack Bankowsky)
Studio Guenzani (two-person exhibition with Cindy Sherman), Milan
1987
The Big Top Is Up, Kuhlenschmidt/Simon, Los Angeles
Enough, Projects: Louise Lawler, The Museum of Modern Art, New York (brochure)
It Remains To Be Seen, Metro Pictures, New York
Maison de la Culture et de la Communication de Saint-Etienne, France (two-person exhibition with John Knight) (cat.)
Ideal Settings, Diane Brown Gallery, New York (two-person exhibition with Alan McCollum)
As Serious As A Circus, Isabella Kacprzak, Stuttgart, Germany
1986
What is the Same, Maison de la Culture et de la Communication de Saint Etienne, France
1985
Interesting, Nature Morte, New York
1984
Home/Museum - Arranged for Living and Viewing, Matrix, The Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut
1982
Another Gallery, Anna Leonowens Gallery II, Halifax, Nova Scotia
An Arrangement of Pictures, Metro Pictures, New York
1981
Jancar/Kuhlenschmidt, Jancar/Kuhlenschmidt Gallery, Los Angeles
1979
A Movie Will Be Shown Without the Picture, Aero Theater, Santa Monica; sponsored by the Foundation for Art Resources

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2012
Histories de L’art, VOX Centre de l’image contemporaine, Montreal
Spies in the House of Art Photography, Film and Video, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2012-2013)
2011
Museum of Desires, MUMOK, Vienna (cat.)
After Images, Jewish Museum of Belgium, Brussels
Shared Intelligence: American Painting and the Photograph, The Georgia O’keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico
No Substitute, Glenstone Foundation, Potomac, Maryland (cat.)
The Deconstructive Impulse: Women Aritsts Reconfigure the Signs of Power, 1973-1991, Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, New York; Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina,
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (2011-2012) (cat.)
The World Belongs To You, Palazzo Grassi, Venice
2010
Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography, Museum of Modern Art, New York (2010-2011)
Hareng Saur: Ensor and Contemporary Art, S.M.A.K./Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent
Hyper Real, Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna (2010-2011)
Untitled (Ohne Titel), Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, Berlin
Taking Place, The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2010-2011)
Adaptation: Between Species, The Power Plant, Toronto (cat.)
El Gabinete Blanco, The Jumex Collection, Mexico City
Sound & Vision, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
2009
Where Do We Go From Here: Selections from the Jumex Collection, Bass Museum of Art, Miami (2009-2010)
Beg Borrow and Steal, The Rubell Family Collection Museum, Miami (2009-2010) (cat.)
Mondernologies: Contemporary Artists Researching Modernity and Modernism, Museu d’Art Contemporani,
Barcelona; Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw (2009-2010) (cat.)
See This Sound: Promises in Sound and Vision, Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz (2009-2010) (cat.)
The Pictures Generation: 1974-1984, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (cat.)
The Quick and the Dead, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (cat.)
Nothingness and Being, The Jumex Collection, Mexico City
2008
Political Corect, BFAS Blondeau Fine Art Services, Geneva
Metro Pictures, New York
Blasted Allegories: Works from the Ringier Collection, Kunstmuseum, Luzern (cat.)
The Museum as Medium, Museo de Arte Contemporánea de Vigo, Spain
Whitney Biennial 2008, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (cat.)
2007
Studio Guenzani (two-person exhibition with Cindy Sherman), Milan
Documenta 12, Aue-Pavillon, Kassel (cat.)
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Held Together With Water, Sammlung Verbund, MAK, Vienna (cat.)
Edit! Photography and Film in the Ellipse Collection, The Ellipse Foundation: Contemporary Art Collection,
Portugal
Metro Pictures, New York
Not for Sale, P.S. 1, New York
The 80’s: A Topography, Fundação Serralves, Porto, Portugal (cat.)
Sequence 1: Selections from the Collection of François Pinault, Palazzo Grassi, Venice (cat.)
2006
Why Pictures Now, Museum Moderner Kunst, Austria (cat.)
Meert-Rihoux, Brussels
Make Your Own Life: Artists In & Out of Cologne, ICA: University of Pennsylvania; The Powerplant,
Toronto; The Henry Art Gallery, Seattle; MOCA, Miami
The Ellipse Foundation: Contemporary Art Collection, Portugal
2005
Slide Show, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland (cat.)
Flashback: Revisiting the Art of the Eighties, Kunstmuseum Museum for Gegenwartskunst, Basel
Metro Pictures, New York
Museum Fever: Included Louise Lawler, The National Museum of Art, Oslo
2004
Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (cat.)
2003
Metro Pictures, New York
Selected Works 1980-2000, 5 Rue de la Muse, Geneva, Switzerland
Pletskud, Arken Museum for Moderne Kunst, Skøvej, Germany
The Last Picture Show: Artists Using Photography 1960-1982, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; Miami
Art Center, Florida (cat.)
Designs for Living, Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles
2002
Metro Pictures, New York
Open House, Casino Luxembourg, Luxembourg (cat.)
Visions from America: Photographs from the Whitney Museum of American Art, Whitney Museum of American
Art, New York (cat.)
Extension, Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden (broch.)
Life, Death, Love, Hate, Pleasure, Pain, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (cat.)
2001
American Art, Galerie Rudolfinum, The Centre of Contemporary Art, Prague, Czech Republic (cat.)
Body Double: Figures of Figures, Des Moines Art Center, Iowa
Televisions, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria (cat.)
2000
Metro Pictures, New York
rot grau, (red grey), Kunsthalle Basel, Basel
Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (cat.)
1999
The Museum as Muse, Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (cat.)
Shelf Life, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
Triennale Exhibition: Sentiment of the Year 2000, Triennale di Milano
1997
Collected, The Photographer's Gallery, London
Foto Text Text Foto, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland
Deep Storage/Arsenale der Erinnerung, Haus der Kunst, Munich Nationalgalerie SMPK, Berlin, Germany;
Kunstmuseum Dusseldorf im Ehrenhof; Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (cat.)
Moving Images, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig (cat.)
1996
Cultural Economies: Histories from the Alternative, The Drawing Center, New York
Metro Pictures, New York
Art at Home: Ideal Standard Life, Spiral Garden, Tokyo
Comme Un Oiseau, la Fondation Cartier pour l'art Contemporain, Paris
Architecture, Art, and Planning Department Centennial, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
10th Biennale of Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales; Artspace; and Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Australia (cat.)
1995
The End(s) of the Museum, Fundacio Antoni Tapies, Barcelona (cat.)
Passions Privees, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (cat.)
1994
Radical Scavenger(s): The Conceptual Vernacular in Recent American Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Die Orte der Kunst, Sprengel Museum, Hannover
Metro Pictures, New York
The Century of the Multiple: From Duchamp to the Present, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg
4 x 1 im Albertinum, Gemaldegalerie Neue Meister, Staatliche Kunstammlungen Dresden (cat.)
Temporary Translation(s): Sammlung Schurmann, Deichtorhallen Hamburg (cat.)
1993
Louise Lawler, Cindy Sherman, Laurie Simmons, Kunsternes Hus, Oslo; Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki (cat.)
Metro Pictures, New York
The Image of the Exhibition, Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna
The Nightshade Family, Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany (cat.)
The Language of Art, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna
Kontext Kunst, Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz (cat.)
Songs of Retribution, Richard Anderson Gallery, New York
1992
Metro Pictures, New York
Yvon Lambert Collectionne, Musée d'Art Moderne, Villeneuve d'Ascq, France
Selected Works From the Early Eighties, K-Raum Daxer, Munich
American Art of the 80's, Museo d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento, Italy (cat.)
Informationsdienst, Kunstlerhaus Stuttgart
1991
Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (cat.)
Anni Novanta, Galeria Communale d'Arte Contemporanea, Bologna
Devil on the Stairs: Looking Back on the 80s, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; Newport Harbor
Art Museum, Newport Beach, California
Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (cat.)
Hugo-Erfurth-Preis: Manuel Alvarex Bravo, Louise Lawler, Henk Tas, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen,
Germany (cat.)
Metro Pictures, New York
1990
The Decade Show, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York
Affinities and Institutions: The Gerald S. Elliot Collection of Contemporary Art, The Art Institute of Chicago
Metro Pictures, New York
Word as Image, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston
1989
Photography of Invention: American Pictures of the 1980's, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian
Institute, Washington, D.C.
A Forest of Signs: Art in the Crisis of Representation, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (cat.)
Tenir L'image a distance, Musee d'Art Contemporain de Montreal
Wittgenstein, Wiener Secession, Vienna
Confronting the Uncomfortable: Questioning Truth and Power, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven
In Other Words, Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund
Metro Pictures, New York
Moscow - Vienna - New York, The Vienna Festival
1988
Five Installations, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California
Presi Per Incantamento, Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea di Milano
1987
Metro Pictures, New York
Photography and Art: Interactions Since 1946, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Art Fort
Lauderdale; Queens Museum, New York
Eau de Cologne, Monika Spruth Galerie, Cologne
Implosion: A Postmodern Perspective, Moderna Museet, Stockholm (cat.)
1986
The Real Big Picture, Queens Museum, New York
Damaged Goods, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York
L'oeuvre et son accrochage, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
Metro Pictures, New York
Art and Its Double: A New York Perspective, Fundacio Caixa de Pensions, Barcelona. Exhibition traveled to
La Caixa de Pensions, Madrid (cat.)
1985
The Art of Memory/The Loss of History, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York
Metro Pictures, New York
New York Now: Correspondences, Laforet Museum, Tokyo. Exhibit traveled to (1986) Tochigi Prefectural
Museum of Fine Arts, Tochigi; Tazaki Hall Espace Media, Kobe
1984
Masking/Unmasking: Aspects of Post-Modernist Photography, The Friends of Photography, Carmel, California
Metro Pictures, New York
New York, Ailleurs et Autrement, ARC Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
1983
Multiple Choice, P.S. I, New York
Drawings/Photographs, Leo Castelli, New York
1981
Extended Photography, Secessionist Museum, Vienna
Metro Pictures, New York
1980
Amalgam, Castelli Graphics, New York
1978
_________, Louise Lawler, Adrian Piper and Cindy Sherman are participating in an exhibition organized by Janelle
Reiring at Artists Space, September 23 to October 28, 1978, Artists Space, New York