Kasper König, a Curatorial ‘Force of Nature’, Dies at 80

Highlights of the German curator's career include advising Harald Szeemann on Documenta 5 and establishing Skulptur Projekte Münster with Klaus Bussmann.

Kasper König died on Saturday. The news was announced by Skulptur Projekte Münster, the once-in-a-decade sculpture exhibition he co-founded in 1977.

König was born in 1943 in Mettingen, Germany. In 1964 (or '65—accounts differ), he travelled to New York with two Francis Picabia paintings on behalf of Robert Fraser Gallery.

He decided to stay in New York, where he worked beside Andy Warhol acolytes at the Factory and served as a rep for Stockholm's Moderna Museet.

Still in his 20s, he curated the exhibitions Claes Oldenburg (1966) and Andy Warhol (1968) at the museum.

During the 1970s, König advised Harald Szeemann on Documenta 5, Questioning Reality – Pictorial Worlds Today, and co-founded Skulptur Projekte Münster.

Over 40 works created for Skulptur Projekte Münster are on permanent public display, including 3.5-metre-tall concrete pool balls by Oldenburg, two concentric concrete rings by Donald Judd, and an almost nine-metre-wide plaster and polyurethane foam cast of bookshelves by Rachel Whiteread. The event's next edition will take place in 2027.

In the 1980s, König co-founded the Frankfurt kunsthalle Portikus and organised the ambitious show Westkunst in Cologne, which sought to chart the arrival of avantgarde art through 800 works from European and American artists dating back to 1939. Writing for the New York Times, critic Grace Glueck gave the exhibition a qualified endorsement, praising its 'many little-seen but high-quality objects' while bemoaning the 'sometimes appalling' juxtaposition of works.

König directed Cologne's Museum Ludwig from 2000 until 2012, revisiting the subject of his museum curating debut with Claes Oldenburg. The Sixties (2012).

In 2010, König placed 60th on ArtReview's annual ranking of art world influence, the Power 100. Describing his career, they said, 'Kasper König doesn't have a CV so much as a catalogue of bragging rights.'

'If the description "curator" no longer does him justice, "force of nature" might,' they said. —[O]