Profile
Alexander Wilhelmi studied Economics and Management at Zeppelin University where he obtained his BA in 2011. In 2013 he received his MSc in Cultural Sociology from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). During his consequent MA in Art History at the Courtauld Institute, he worked part-time at Sotheby's in London. He currently works as a research fellow at the Chair of Art Theory and Curating at Zeppelin University as well as a curatorial assistant for Fürstenberg Zeitgenössisch, a private collection of contemporary art in Donaueschingen, Germany. His research interests are the history of the art market and visual methods in social and cultural research
Dissertation project
The Trade & the Image: Portraits of Art Dealers in the 20th Century
The dissertation focuses on a number of art dealer portraits that have all been executed during the 20th century. Using primarily visual analysis, a number of questions shall be answered, such as: What relationships are there between dealers and artists? What visual language did artists develop in dealing these art dealers? What notion of the art dealer's social status and mindset is expressed through these images? And how are the portraits situated in the wider discourse about the art trade?