LOUIS SCHLUMBERGER
Visual Artist
Catalogue Edition | 2025.01 |
www.louisschlumberger.com
| Pearl | 2024 |
| Mixed Media on Linen | 100cm x 100cm |
| Sensitivity | 2024 |
| Mixed Media on Linen | 70cm x 70cm |
| SOLD |
| Silk | 2024 |
| Mixed Media on Linen | 70cm x 70cm |
| Space Inside | 2024 |
| Mixed Media on Linen | 100cm x 100cm |
| Private Collection Moscow |
| Jewel | 2024 |
| Mixed Media on Linen | 70cm x 70cm |
| Traces 24-2 | 2024 |
| Mixed Media on Linen | 40cm x 40cm |
| Traces 24-3 | 2024 |
| Mixed Media on Linen | 40cm x 40cm |
| SOLD |
| Traces 24-4 | 2024|
| Mixed Media on Linen | 40cm x 40cm |
| AI-Enigma 03 | 2024 |
| Mixed Media | 70cm x 70cm |
| The Secret | 2024 |
| Mixed Media on Linen | 70cm x 70cm |
| AI-Enigma 04 | 2024 |
| Mixed Media | 80cm x 80cm |
| Memories 24-1 | 2024 |
| Mixed Media on Linen | 40cm x 40cm |
| Oneworld | 2024 |
|Mixed Media on Linen | 80cm x 80 cm |
| AI-Enigma 02 | 2024 |
| Mixed Media | 100cm x 100cm |
| AI-Enigma 01 | 2024 |
| Mixed Media | 100cm x 100cm |
| Earth | 2024 |
|Mixed Media on Linen | 70cm x 40cm |
|The Deep Sea | 2024 |
| Acrylic, Varnish andGlaze on Canvas | 70cm x 70cm |
| Beyond | 2024 |
| Mixed Media on Wood | 40cm x 40cm |
| Memories| 2023|
| Acrylic, Varnish andGlaze on Canvas | 70cm x 70cm |
| Private Collection Zurich |
| Birth | 2023 |
| Acrylic, Varnish andGlaze on Canvas | 40cm x 40cm |
| The Ghosts of Emotions | 2023 |
| Acrylic, Varnish andGlaze on Canvas | 70cm x 70cm |
| Die Sonne | 2023 |
|Acrylic, Chalk, Enamel, Varnish and Oil Glaze on Canvas | 103cm x 103cm |
| Sunset in Greece | 2023 |
| Acrylic, Chalk, Enamel, Varnish and Oil Glaze on Canvas | 70cm x 70cm |
| The Message of Anne Frank | 2023 |
| Acrylic, Chalk, Enamel, Varnish andOil Glaze on Canvas| 60cm x 60cm |
| и міръ миръ Krieg und Frieden | 2023 |
| Acrylic, Chalk, Enamel, Varnish and Oil Glaze on Canvas | 110cm x 120cm |
| World Topics | 2022 |
| Acrylic, Gouache, Paste, Varnish, Enamel, Oil Chalk, Graphite Resin on Canvas | 70cm x 70cm |
| Private Collection Geneva |
| The Secret of theSea| 2022|
| Acrylic, Chalk, Gouache, Enamel, Varnish Graphite and Resin on Canvas | 70cm x 70cm |
| SOLD |
| Душа Киева - The Soul of Kiev | 2022 |
| Acrylic, Oil Chalk, Gouache, Enamel, Paste, Varnish, Graphite, Resin, Asphalt, Spray, Rabbit Skin on Canvas | 140cm x 160cm |
| Private Collection Zurich |
| Mars| 2021|
| Acrylic, Varnish, Glaze, Lacquer on canvas | 80cm x 80cm |
| SOLD |
| Bitcoin | 2021 |
| Acrylic Ink Varnish Resin Oil Tar and Pigment on canvas | 83cm x 83cm |
| SOLD |
| Remember Afghanistan | 2022 |
Acrylic, Oil Chalk, Enamel, Paste, Varnish, Powder Pigment, Resin, Asphalt on Canvas | 110cm x 150cm |
| Inner Voices| 2022 |
| Acrylic, Enamel, Paste, Varnish, Graphite, Resin, Asphalt, Rabbit Skin on Canvas | 40cm x 40cm |
| Private Collection Basel |
| Winterlandscape (Parc du Jorat) | 2022 |
|Oil, Acrylic, Varnish, China Ink, Oil Chalk, Natural Resin on canvas | 140cm x 140cm |
| SOLD |
| Remember Iceland | 2019 |
| Acrylic, Oil, Paste, Enamel, Varnish,Resin on Cotton | 60cm x 60cm |
| SOLD |
| Lasting Luxury | 2019 |
| AcrylEnamelVarnish ResinGlaze and Powder Pigment on Canvas | 40 cm x 40 cm|
| SOLD |
| America First | 2017 |
| Oil, Ink, Resin, Oil, Tar, Pigment on Linen | 120cm x 60cm |
| SOLD |
| 中国一 带 一路 (Belt and Road China) | 2019 |
| Acryl, Resin, Varnish, Laquer, Binder-Oil thickener on Linen | 140cm x 140cm |
Art Comeback of a Basel original Louis Schlumberger comes from a family that collects art, not makes it, as his father said. The son rebelled, first became an artist without means - and then fell ill. At 62, he is back and successful again. Mark van Huisseling
a scandal or breach of trust: In the bestseller "Die Frau des Geliebten der Mutter" (The wife of her mother's lover), Marie-Louise Staehelin described how she was married off as a young adult to the industrialist Nicolas Schlumberger, her mother's lover, "to keep the money in the Basel moneyed aristocracy " (Blick) - "city palaces, galadiners, inbreeding" was how the newspaper summarised the "cinematic life" of the author of the exposé. Nicolas was Louis' grandfather's brother. His father, a lawyer by profession, spent his professional life at Bankverein, the Basel-based bank that took over Bankgesellschaft from Zurich and became UBS; a military career was also important to him. His second son's life plan, on the other hand, gave him little pleasure. Louis was considered an enfant terrible at the University of Basel, where he dropped out of law school, and then at the University of St. Gallen, which he left without a business degree. "Because of his homosexual orientation and anti-military stance, the family conflict developed into a full-blown drama," writes art critic Dominique von Burg in a text about him. "The escape to London enabled him to study art history at Sotheby's Institute of Art," it continues. For the sake of completeness, it should read "The escape and the family" - thanks to the family lawyer, Louis had got an appointment with a Sotheby's boss and was subsequently allowed to apply for one of the scarce, highly sought- after training places (vitamin B is said to have been irrelevant for admission). His final thesis centred on early works by Jackson Pollock, which continue to influence his work to this day. "A Schlumberger doesn't make art, he collects it," is how Louis paraphrases his father's words. The French-Portuguese-American couple Pierre and Maria "São" Schlumberger, a distant relative, built up a collection of works by modern artists, including Mondrian, Rothko, War-
hol and Rauschenberg - with the fortune that Pierre Schlumberger earned as CEO of what was once his family's company and is now the world's largest oil industry service provider. And in Basel, father Schlumberger told his son that it was not too late to achieve something in life after all - if he came back to Basel to work at Bankverein. left London, but once again failed to fulfil his family's expectations - he moved to Zurich, into a council flat (1.5 rooms, 520 francs a month rent). And made ends meet with odd jobs so that he could paint at night. "He created works that were directed against some of society's constraints," writes critic von Burg. The following years can be casually summarised as what society largely didn't care about. Or, in other words, for the longest time he earned too little to live and too much to die, in classic artist fashion. After the death of his grandmother in 2000, he inherited; not very much, but enough to free him from existential fears, he says. His work had already attracted the Suddenly in demand Louis Schlumberger subsequently attention of an artist from Geneva, who was able to appoint Schlumberger as a Swiss representative at the Crans Montana Forum Universelle, an NGO with the aim of "building a better world". Furthermore, thanks to the Forum, he was accepted as an art student at Chelsea College and completed his Master of Art at the age of forty. Business was also going well, his large oil paintings were suddenly in demand - in 2002 he sold "Worlds of Seeming and Being", as he describes them, for 160,000 francs. But it seems that the hungry years before had caused damage: "Grave health problems abruptly interrupted his career in 2003," it says in his CV. According to Wikipedia, Crohn's disease belongs to the group of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases. The disease is categorised as a complex barrier disease of unknown cause.
Louis Schlumberger: Winter group show at the Art Forum Ute Barth. Zurich. 7 December to 31 January
A
n the painting "The Poor Poet" by the German painter Carl Spitzweg, a writer is depicted in his barren attic.
parlour. There is no bed in it; a mattress is leaning against the wall, on which the poor poet in a dressing gown is leaning. He is holding a few pages of manuscript in his left hand. If Louis Schlumberger were a writer, you could imagine him like this. But he is a painter. He is also a Schlumberger, a member of the large, wealthy family of entrepreneurs and art collectors with a Basel branch. New works by him can be seen this autumn. The 62-year-old exhibited in London in October and in December the winter group show of the Art Forum Ute Barth, the Zurich gallery that represents him and to which he is contributing some new abstract paintings, opens. This may not yet be the rise to painting royalty. But it is at least his entry into the art world or, more precisely, his re-entry. After all, Schlumberger had already been this far once before, more than twenty years ago. In between lies a family dispute that almost destroyed his life plan. And an illness that almost ended his life (perhaps it was the other way round). An unhappy family in its own way "All happy families are alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." The first sentence from "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy is often quoted, but that doesn't make it any less true. The Schlumberger tribe from Mülhausen in Alsace can be traced back to the early 16th century. The first Schlumberger only came to Basel a good 300 years later, bringing with him a recipe for a small white bread called "Schlumbergerli", which is still popular in the city today. The line that produced Louis was discontinued at the end of the 1980s
studio@louisschlumberger.com | Kdnr: 3727264
But someone who may have a slight limp, but who is physically and mentally agile and even bouncy. He is also filled with the urge to work that you would expect from an emerging artist , a young, up-and-coming artist. The decades-long columnist for the Basler Zeitung and social connoisseur with the name "-minu" describes him like this: "He's a bit crazy, over-the-top, but he's a Basel original, of which every generation on the Rhine knee only produces a few specimens - I like Louis."
Old question: Do tough personal experiences produce better art?
He has been realising his announcement "I want to return to the art market" for around two years. "His works are resonating," writes Dominique von Burg, a publicist who is well- disposed towards him. In 2022, he earned 45,000 francs from painting, as he is unusually open about, and this year it is likely to be less (his paintings cost between 2,500 and 6,000 francs). But it's true - he is now represented by galleries in Zurich and Basel, and the exhibition at London's Chelsea Arts Club, a private social club, this autumn meant a lot to him, the Chelsea College alumnus. (Even if he wasn't able to sell any pictures, which perhaps had more to do with the hanging in the so-called Billiards Room, above the snooker table, than with the quality of the works). The old question: do tough personal experiences produce better art, does suffering create a more profound work? A draft text for the upcoming exhibition at the Sarasin Art Gallery in Basel states that Schlumberger's career path, "characterised by intense upheavals", led him to profound painting. "His paintings thematise unreal worlds that are invisible to the eye but real to the soul." Ute Barth, his Zurich gallery owner, also says that she decided in favour of the artist because his paintings are mysterious. "There are ghosts and stories, sometimes even disturbing stories, hidden in the numerous layers of paint." She even sees Schlumberger's works in the tradition of Paul Klee, who wanted to make the invisible visible. As befits a contemporary painter, Louis Schlumberger spreads images and messages via Instagram. "I feel grateful for my wonderful life," he shared there after his London show. It's high time to update Spitzweg's image of the poor poet, which was described here as an introduction - it no longer reflects his life circumstances.
Enfant terrible with depth: artist Schlumberger at London's Chelsea Arts Club.
Picture: Muir Vidler
viewed. Schlumberger was treated with cortisone for years. This led to bone atrophy and several vertebrae broke as a result of the side effects, he concluded. Every movement meant pain. The condition of his bones, especially in his back, was poor - advanced osteoporosis. "Painting? Unthinkable. I was bedridden and condemned to inactivity," he says. He accused the doctor of bungling and malpractice - and demanded 2.3 million francs in compensation for the loss of earnings he had suffered. A glass-half-full type To make a long story short: Schlumberger was ultimately awarded compensation of 35,000 Swiss francs for damage to property and as satisfaction. What a
Beobachter journalist who reported on the case described it as a bitter defeat - because the doctor paid "without recognising any breach of duty of care, liability or legal obligation". At the end of the 2015 article, Schlumberger speaks two sentences that show that he is a glass-half- full type, a fighter even: "It didn't take much and I would have ended up in a wheelchair forever" and: "I want to get back into the art market. He now lives with his husband, who has a He runs a consultancy firm and has been together with him since 1997, as well as two rough-haired dachshunds in Pully on Lake Geneva; his studio is in Zurich Wiedikon. His strict father died in 2014, his mother this year. But when you meet Louis Schlumberger, you don't see a sick or sad man, let alone a broken one.
Weltwoche No. 48.24
Schweizer Kunst
07.01
Schvveizer Kunst 2023 - Mitgliederbeiträge
«Doppelmoral»
Louis Schlumberger, Душа Киева - The Soul of Kiev, 2022, Acrylic, Oil Chalk, Gouache, Enamel, Paste, Varnish, Graphite, Resin, Asphalt, Spray, Rabbit Skin on Canvas Mein Bild «The Soul of Kiew» bewirkte nach meiner Vernissage letztes Jahr ohne mein Zutun ein Echo bis in die Ukraine. Dort wurde es in einen Katalog aufgenommen und ich mit einem «Award» ausgezeichnet. Ich wollte die gemeinsamen Wurzeln der Völker in der Ukraine hervorheben. Es war mein Aufruf zur Versöhnung und wurde in der Ukraine jedoch als einseitige Positionierung interpretiert. Ich liess dies so stehen. Handle ich damit mit einer Doppelmoral? Ist es die Politik, welche die Künstler und Künstlerinnen in die Doppelmoral drängt?
The words "the visible again, but makes visible" also apply to the oeuvre of Louis Schlumberger. After a break of many years, he has passionately returned to his artistic work. Even before 2006, the artist had attracted attention on the international art scene with his large-format paintings, with exhibitions in renowned galleries in Switzerland and London. Now the Sarasin Art Gallery is presenting a cross-section of his current work. DvB
Louis Schlumberger
Basel - The face of a woman glimmers out of a gloomy background, only barely illuminated by green tones, under many impasto layers of paint. <Remember Afghanistan>, 2022, is the name of the large-format painting and, for Louis Schlumberger (*1962, Basel), it conceals the reblooming of Afghanistan, which can only come from women. The model for the painting was the portrait of a Pashtun girl with striking green eyes by the photographer Steve McCurry, which was published in 1985 in the magazine <National Geography> and then distributed worldwide. Just as women are maltreated under the current leadership, the artist maltreated the beautiful image of the refugee child with asphalt varnish and other aggres sive means. Schlumberger always applies many layers of different materials in gestural, abstract colour rhythms. In the background of the picture, beings appear as pale shadows or dark spots with archaic, demonic or angelic features, who operate in invisible worlds, be it futuristic or sunken cities, underwater or in (burning) rainforests. Sometimes they may reflect our inner echoing voices and feelings. In <The Masters of the Universe>, 2021, viewers are confronted with the concentrated force of countless, sinister grimaces and elusive figures that vibrate greedily and power- hungrily in a space narrowed in perspective. From this, many would like to save themselves with a Munchian scream, as in <The Lock Freeze> , 2021, which resounds poignantly in both image and real space. Through an intensive May process, the artist approaches his respective ecological, civic or political theme. In the course of his critical questioning, which are reflected in the phased colour and material actual landscapes of the soul emerge. These represent a mystical world, which for the painter is equally perceptible as our real world. Thus Paul Klee's famous dictum "Art does not give
Louis Schlumberger - Remember Afghanistan, 2022, acrylic, oil pastel, enamel, paste, varnish, powder pigment, resin,asphalt on canvas, 110x 150 cm
Louis Schlumberger - The Masters of the Uni verse, 2021,acrylic, enamel, varnish, resin,asphalt, spray,tinting concentrate, powder pigment, glaze on canvas, 110x 130 cm
Sarasin Art Gallery, 1.9.-1.10. /1 www. sarasinart. ch
66 Art Bulletin 9/2022
|Biography|
Born in Basel
Studio in Zurich
Swiss & Swedish
|Achievements|
|Competition Doppelmoral, Zurich, 2023|
| Competition Best Artist s , NGO Ukraine, 2022|
|Pre-Selection 12 Artists gartencity, Zurich, 2008|
|Film Pilot Tiger Aspect Production, London, 2004|
|UN- Project Water, London, 2003|
|Chelsea College, M.A. Fine Arts, London, 2002|
|Cinema Pass me the Eye, London, UK 6.2002|
| adm. Slade School of Fine Arts(UCL), London, 1997|
|Selected Artist Switzerland, Forum Universelle, Crans-
Montana, 1995|
|Solo Exhibitions -selection|
GalerieSarasin Art, Basel, January-March2025 Chelsea Arts Club, London, October 2024
Galerie Sarasin Art, Basel, 2022
Galerie Wehrli, Zurich, 2005
H&BGallery, Lausanne, 2004
Visarte, Zurich, 2000
Contemporary Art Gallery, Zurich, 1996
Galerie Point Rouge, Paris, 1995
Forum Universelle, Crans- Montana, 1995
Théâtre du Grütli, Geneva, 1995
Galerie Zum Elephanten, Zurzach(CH), 1994
Grodoonia, Oberglatt (Zurich), 1994
Hotel Hilton, Basel, 1994
Galerie de Provence, Cannes, 1993
Galerie deCrans, Crans- Montana, 1993
Universität Basel, Basel, 1992
UBS-Galerie, Basel, 1991
Phillips, Son& Neale, Zurich, 1990
SBV Galerie, St. Moritz, 1990
|Group Exhibitions -selection|
Art Forum Ute Barth, Zurich, 2024/2025 Art Salon Zurich, Gallery Sarasin Art, Zurich, October 2024 Gallery Kupper Visarte, Zurich, August 2024 Art Forum Ute Barth, Zurich, 2023 /2024
Visarte Einsichten, Zurich, 2023
DoppelmoralSelection byVisarte Zurich, Zurich, 2023
Kunsthaus Elsau, Elsau, 2023
L’Institut Créole, Fribourg, 2022
Miseausac, Villa Dutoit, Geneva, 2018
Action Solidaire, Basel, 2016
Kunstetage, Zurich, 2010
Frontières, Musée d‘Art et d‘Histoire, Neuchâtel, 2008
Projektraum M54, Basel, 2005
Intermezzo Metropol, Zurich, 2005
Visarte beim Stadthaus, Zurich, 2003
Cinema Pass Me The Eye, London 2002
Chelsea College M.A. Show, London, 2001
Sub Art, The House Project, London 2001
The House Project Space, London 1999
Contemporary Art Gallery, Zurich, 1997
Zurich Artist Inventory, Zurich, 1995
La Galerie de Tourgéville, Deauville, 1994
Art Communication City of Zurich, Zurich, 1993
Drei Galerie Heidi Brehm, Zurich, 1993
|Bibliography -selection|
| Weltwoche 12/2024|
|Schweizer Kunst 2023|
|Kunstbulletin 09.2022|
|Institut Créole, Fribourg,
2022| |Action solidaire, Basel,
2016|
|Villadutoit.ch, Geneva, 2012|
|Musée d’Art de Neuchâtel, 2008|
|Seesicht, Zurich, 2005|
|NZZ Metropol, Zurich, 2005|
|HB Gallery, Lausanne, 2004|
|Life Line, Contemporary Art Gallery, Zurich, 1996|
|Zürcher Inventar, Zurich, 1995|
|La Tribune de Genève, Geneva, CH 2.95|
|L‘ éveil Normandie, Deauville, F 2.95|
|Galerie Point Rouge, Paris, 1995|
RadioOuest France, Cannes, F2.95
Basler Uni Ball Messe Basel, 1994
Radio Radio Europe/ Les PotinsMagazin,F, 9.94
Télévision FR 3, National , F 9.94
Les Terrasses de la Côte d‘ Azur, Côte d‘ Azur, 9.94
|Nice Matin, Côte d‘ Azur, F 9.94|
|Brugger Tagblatt, Brugg, CH 6.94 Badener Tagblatt, Baden, CH|
6.94| |Badener Tagblatt, Baden, CH 6.94|
|Neues Bülacher Tagblatt, Zurich, CH 3.94|
|Basellandschaftliche Zeitung, Basel, CH 1.94|
|Baslerstab, Basel, CH 1.94|
|Luzerner Zeitung, Lucerne, CH 9.93|
|Luzerner Neueste Nachrichten, Lucerne, CH 9.93|
|Journal de Sierre, Valais, CH 8.93|
Le Matin Quotidien, Romandie, CH 8.93
|La Vie a Crans- Montana, Crans- Montana, CH 8.93|
|SBG- Zeitung, Base
|Schaffhauser Nachrichten, Schaffhausen, CH 7.93|
Zürcher City, Zurich, CH 3.91
|St. Moritz Aktuell, St. Moritz, CH 1.91|
|Collections|
Union Bankof Switzerland(branch level)
Swiss Bank Corporation (branch level)
Private Collections in Switzerland,
Belgium, France, Austria, UK, USA
|Professional Artist Associations|
Konstnarsforbundet, Sweden, 2019
Visarte Switzerland, 2004
|Education|
Chelsea College, London, MA Fine Arts, 2002
Sotheby’s Institute, London, Postgraduate, 1990
St. Gallen University, Basic Level, 1988
Institut Dr. Pfister, Swiss Maturity B, 1982
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