Artur Walther
Collector
Artur Walther is one of the leading collectors of photography in the world today. For nearly twenty years, The Walther Collection has been devoted to supporting global photography through exhibitions and scholarship. The collection now includes one of the most important private holdings of contemporary African and Asian photography. The collection features work by Ai Weiwei, Richard Avedon, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Samuel Fosso, David Goldblatt, Seydou Keïta, Santu Mofokeng, Zanele Muholi, J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere, Jo Ractliffe, August Sander, Stephen Shore, Malick Sidibé, Song Dong, Mikhael Subotzky, Guy Tillim, Wang Qingsong, Zhang Dali, and Zhang Huan.
Walther began collecting photography in the late 1990s, initially focusing on German modernist photography before expanding his collection to encompass contemporary photography and video. In 2010, he inaugurated The Walther Collection, a museum complex in Neu-Ulm, Germany. Dedicated to promoting new scholarship about photography, The Walther Collection is active in curatorial research, in-depth exhibitions, and comprehensive publications. Exhibitions from the collection have been presented throughout Europe, and in 2011 it extended its mission to the U.S. with the opening of The Walther Collection Project Space in New York.
Walther was born in Ulm, Germany, earned his MBA from Harvard Business School, and was later a partner at Goldman Sachs. He currently serves on a number of committees at cultural and educational institutions in New York. He was a trustee at the International Center of Photography for 16 years. At ICP, he chaired the Exhibitions Committee for ten years, and spearheaded the launch of the ICP Triennial of Video and Photography in 2003.