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About Ursula Hauser

Portrait of Ursula Hauser
Ursula Hauser grew up in St. Gallen, Switzerland, where she co-founded and directed a family retail business. In the 1980's she began acquiring modern masters and developing an interest in contemporary art that burgeoned into a true passion.
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In 1992, with her son-in-law Iwan Wirth and her daughter Manuela, Ursula founded the gallery Hauser & Wirth. Today, Ursula Hauser focuses primarily upon her collection, with its special emphasis on female artists. A committed cultural philanthropist, she is dedicated to sharing her collection with the public and is an active lender to exhibitions worldwide.
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Over the last two decades, exhibitions dedicated to the Ursula Hauser Collection have been held at institutions across the globe. Through her dynamic engagement with artists, and her long-term support of their work through acquisitions, she has created a collection which is a unique resource for scholars and art professionals.

In 2014 Ursula Hauser received the SI Award / Swiss Institute in New York. In 2020 she was the recipient of the Rinascimento + Award (Florence, Italy) in recognition of her collection, patronage and commitment to supporting art and artists.

The artist comes first. Always.
—Ursula Hauser

In the 1980s, Ursula Hauser began quietly building what’s become one of the world’s most impressive private collections of modern and contemporary art — acquiring works from visionary artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Carol Rama, Alina Szapocznikow, Franz West, and many others — and in 1992, she co-founded one of today’s most important galleries, Hauser & Wirth. A book entitled ‘The Inner Mirror: Conversations with Ursula Hauser, Art Collector’ was published in 2019 and presents the first-ever extensive and intimate account of her life and art collection.

To define the works found in Ursula’s collection is a matter of identity, one that is fused to her personal trajectory — from her early years in eastern Switzerland, where she was born in 1939, to becoming a mother, helming her father’s intrepid electronics business, and starting an art gallery with her daughter and son-in-law. Family has always been the steady axis around which Ursula’s life orbits; for her, the artists she collects belong to that same magnetic locus. To understand Ursula Hauser’s collection is to know the collector and chart the course of late twentieth-century and early twenty-first-century art.
Available here in English, German and French

MOTHER WEAVER

In a new film from The Forgotten Her Story — a new platform that celebrates womanhood, craftsmanship and the handmade by telling the stories of extraordinary women — Ursula Hauser meets with artist Pipilotti Rist and her daughter Manuela Wirth to reflect on some of the artists and ideas that are central to her collection.

Directed by Lily Cole, this short film was produced on the occasion of the exhibition ‘The Mother & The Weaver’ at London’s Foundling Museum, exploring the complex role of the mother in art from the Ursula Hauser Collection.

Discover the story of Ursula's life, work and collection:

collaborationS


Over the course of 2 and a half years works from the Ursula Hauser Collection were made accessible to students at the Zurich University of the Arts. The module ‘Art & Exhibiting,’ part of the Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts, introduced the students to history and methods of curating and exhibition making. With loans from the Ursula Hauser Collection the students had the opportunity to come up close and draw inspiration from some of the great artists of modern and contemporary art.

Learn more about Ursula Hauser’s commitment to Learning and Education and what she means with the dictum, ‘The artist comes first. Always.’ in an interview published in the latest issue of ZETT, the magazine of the University of the Arts Zurich.
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For more information:
‍Zurich University of the Arts, NEST
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Past Exhibitions

The Mother & The Weaver: Art from the Ursula Hauser Collection Foundling Museum, London
September 22, 2023 – February 18, 2024
Roman Signer: Donation from the Ursula Hauser Collection
Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland
September 9, 2023 – March 10, 2024
The Wellbeing Summit, Museo de Arte Sacro, Bilbao
June 1 - 3, 2022
Collaboration Ursula Hauser Collection with Zurich University of the Arts Switzerland Fall 2021 – Spring 2024
Unconscious Landscape. Works from the Ursula Hauser Collection
Hauser & Wirth Somerset, United Kingdom
May 24 - September 8, 2019
Body Doubles
Lokremise, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland
February 4 - June 25, 2017
Paul McCarthy
Lokremise, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland
September 3 - November 13, 2016
Phyllida Barlow: mix
Lokremise, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland
August 21 - November 8, 2015
Human Capsules: Eight Female Artists from the Ursula Hauser Collection
Lokremise, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland
February 25 - August 12, 2012
Jason Rhoades. My Madinah. in pursuit of my ermitage...
Lokremise, Hauser & Wirth Collection, Switzerland
June 13 – September 12, 2004
Roman Signer
Lokremise, Hauser & Wirth Collection, Switzerland
May 11 – October 12, 2003
The House of Fiction
Lokremise, Hauser & Wirth Collection, Switzerland
May 5 – October 13, 2002
Wechselstrom
Lokremise, Hauser & Wirth Collection, Switzerland
May 13 – October 14, 2001
The Oldest Possible Memory
Lokremise, Hauser & Wirth Collection, Switzerland
May 14 – October 15, 2000
Paul McCarthy. Dimensions of the Mind: The Denial and the Desire in the Spectacle. Lokremise, Hauser & Wirth Collection, Switzerland
June 13 – October 10, 1999

PUBLICATIONS

Front cover of The Inner Mirror. Conversations with Ursula Hauser, Art Collector publication
The Inner Mirror. Conversations with Ursula Hauser, Art Collector. Hauser & Wirth Publishers, 2019
Front cover of Phyllida Barlow. Mix. publication
Phyllida Barlow. Mix.
Verlag für Moderne Kunst, 2016
Front cover of Menschenzellen. Acht Künstlerinnen aus der Sammlung Ursula Hauser publication
Menschenzellen. Acht Künstlerinnen aus der Sammlung Ursula Hauser. Verlag für Moderne Kunst, 2012
Front cover of Ballerina in a Whirlpool publication
Ballerina in a Whirlpool.
Snoek Verlag, 2007
front cover of Swiss Made (The Art of Falling Apart) publication
Swiss Made (The Art of Falling Apart).
Waanders Uitgevers, 2006
Front cover of Roman Signer publication
Roman Signer.
Hatje Cantz, 2004
Front cover of (In Search of) The Perfect Lover publication
(In Search of) The Perfect Lover.
Hatje Cantz, 2003
Front cover of The house of Fiction Publication
The House of Fiction.
Verlag für Moderne Kunst, 2002
front cover of Wechselstrom publication
Wechselstrom.
Oktagon Verlag, 2001
Front cover of The Oldest Possible Memory publication
The Oldest Possible Memory.
Oktagon Verlag, 2000
Front cover of Paul McCarthy: Dimensions of the Mind. The Denial and the Desire in the Spectacle publication
Paul McCarthy: Dimensions of the Mind. The Denial and the Desire in the Spectacle. Oktagon Verlag, 2000

Contact

Laura Bechter
Head of Collection / Collection Curator
 laura.bechter@ursulahausercollection.org
Angelika Felder
Senior Collection Manager
angelika.felder@ursulahausercollection.org
Vanessa Rogger
Collection Manager
 vanessa.rogger@ursulahausercollection.org
Office
info@ursulahausercollection.org
 ‍ +41 (0)71 228 5550
Follow us on Instagram
@ursulahausercollection
Unless otherwise stated, all work © the artist.
For the work of Louise Bourgeois: © The Easton Foundation / 2023, ProLitteris, Zurich; Heidi Bucher: © The Estate of Heidi Bucher; Alexander Calder: © 2020 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Martin Creed: © 2023 ProLitteris, Zurich; Berlinde de Bruyckere: © the artist and Hauser & Wirth; Raoul De Keyser: © Family Raoul De Keyser / 2023, ProLitteris, Zurich; Roni Horn: © the artist; Eva Hesse: © The Estate of Eva Hesse; Hans Josephsohn: © Josephsohn Estate; Nicola L. © Nicola L. Collection and Archive; Maria Lassnig: © Maria Lassnig Stiftung / 2023, ProLitteris, Zurich; Lee Lozano: © The Estate of Lee Lozano; Francis Picabia: © 2023, ProLitteris, Zurich; Carol Rama: © Archivio Carol Rama; Jason Rhoades: © The Estate of Jason Rhoades; Dieter Roth: © Dieter Roth Estate; Roman Signer: © Roman Signer; Sylvia Sleigh: © The Estate of Sylvia Sleigh; Franz West: © Archiv Franz West © Franz West Estate

Unless otherwise stated, all works courtesy Ursula Hauser Collection, Switzerland and Hauser & Wirth.
For the work of Raoul De Keyser: Courtesy David Zwirner Gallery, New York, London, Hong Kong, Paris;  Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp; Richard Jackson: Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth, Hans Josephsohn: Courtesy Josephsohn Estate, Kesselhaus Josephsohn/Galerie Felix Lehner; Nicola L. : Courtesy Alison Jacques, London and Nicola L. Collection and Archive © Nicola L. Collection and Archive; Maria Lassnig: ©  Maria Lassnig Stiftung / 2023, ProLitteris, Zurich; Paul McCarthy: Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth; Pipilotti Rist: Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Luhring Augustine / © 2023, ProLitteris, Zurich

Every effort has been made to trace copyright ownership and to obtain reproduction permissions. Corrections brought to the collection’s attention will be incorporated in the future.