Thomas Kellein

Thomas Kellein (1955 – 22 September 2025) was a German art historian, gallery director, author and curator. He was the Director at Kunsthalle Basel between 1988 and 1995, and the Director of the Kunsthalle Bielefeld between 1996 and 2010.

Background Kellein was born in 1955 in Nuremberg, Bavaria, West Germany. During his school years, Kellein lived in Hanover, Germany and studied art history, philosophy and literature in Berlin, Hamburg and Marburg.

In 1982, Kellein received his doctorate degree from the University of Hamburg.

Career Early beginnings In 1982, he was appointed curator of the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, where he directed the International Archive for Intermedia Arts founded by Hanns Sohm in 1945. Later he curated exhibitions, with Ad Reinhardt and then with Walter de Maria.

Kunsthalle Basel, 1988–1996 In 1988, Kellein was appointed Director of the Kunsthalle Basel, where he curated exhibitions of Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still, Andy Warhol, Roni Horn, Mike Kelley, John McCracken, Cindy Sherman, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Rachel Whiteread. He also organized thematic projects like “The 21st Century” or “World Morality: Ideas of Morality in Contemporary Art.” Several of his exhibitions traveled from Basel to various European countries and to the United States.

During his years in Basel, Kellein was guest curator at Watari-Um in Tokyo, at the Royal Academy of Arts in London and at Haus der Kunst in Munich. There, in 1995, he curated the historically comprehensive exhibition “Pierrot: Melancholy and Mask.” Between 1982 and 1996 he was part-time lecturer and Professor for Art History at the Philipps-Universität Marburg, the Kunstakademie Stuttgart, and the Universities of Stuttgart and Freiburg. With the help of the architectural firm Zwimpfer Partner, Kellein invited Donald Judd to Basel in 1991, where the sculptor developed the design of the façade of the Bahnhof Ost railroad station.

Kunsthalle Bielefeld, 1996–2010 From 1996 to 2010, Kellein served as Director of the Kunsthalle Bielefeld, turning the municipal Art Museum into a nonprofit operating company. In Bielefeld he curated solo exhibitions by Alvar and Aino Alto, Vanessa Beecroft, Louise Bourgeois, George Condo, Paul Delvaux, Fang Lijun, Caspar David Friedrich, Adam Fuss, Donald Judd (which later travelled to the Menil Collection), Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Jeff Koons, Henri Laurens, Robert Longo, Kasimir Malevich, Yoko Ono, Pablo Picasso, Rirkit Tiravanija and Not Vital. Among his thematic projects were “1937: Perfection and Destruction,” “1968: The Great Innocence,” and “The 80s Revisited: The Bischofberger Collection.” Many publications related to the listed exhibitions, including the ones in Basel, were issued by well-known German publishing houses. There were a large number of English publications as well.

In 1997 Kellein initiated the state-sponsored project “Garden Landscape OstWestfalenLippe” in public and private gardens and parks of the region. From 2000 to 2010 the project involved up to six different spatial installations a year. Among the participating gardeners and artists were Georg Baselitz, Gilles Clément, George Condo, Richard Deacon, Olafur Eliasson, Jenny Holzer, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Anish Kapoor, Jonathan Meese, Christiane Möbus, Piet Oudolf, Tobias Rehberger, Thomas Schütte, Martha Schwartz, Yutaka Sone and Jan Vercruysse. Several of the spatial installations, such as those by Jenny Holzer in the palace grounds of Reder, are accessible as permanent installations. In the Gräflicher Park Bad Driburg, the “Piet Oudolf Garden” has been open to the public since 2009.

In 2003, Kellein chaired the jury that awarded the Museum Ludwig's Wolfgang Hahn Prize to Niele Toroni.

Later career From 2011 until 2012, Kellein served as Director of the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas.

From 2012 to 2013 Kellein was an independent art advisor. Starting in 2013, he was Director of Art Consult at Bergos Berenberg AG in Zurich, a Swiss private bank. In 2015, Kellein gave testimony in the court case connected to Berenberg Art Advice (a now dissolved subsidiary of the private Berenberg Bank), because his former co-worker, art dealer Helge Achenbach was accused of defrauding customers through hidden premiums.

Publications A list of select exhibition catalogues and book publications, in descending order by year of publishing.

Books

Exhibition catalogues