Ursula Gropper
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Ursula Gropper is an artists representative and former gallerist, working in the United States.
Together with her brother Thomas V. Meyer she opened the Grapestake Gallery in San Francisco from 1974 to 1984, Gropper was the first on the west-coast to exhibit photography concurrent with painting and sculpture in order to introduce and validate photographs as a fine art and collecting medium. The gallery opened with an Ansel Adams retrospective and later exhibited such artists as Harry Callahan, Joel Meyerowitz, Paul Strand, Michael Kenna, George Rodger, Richard Misrach, Berenice Abbott, Mark Citret and Jerry Uelsmann. Richard Misrach had his first one-man show at Grapestake Gallery.
The gallery closed in 1984 but Ursula Gropper continues to promote photographs as an independent dealer. This includes representation and sales for such artists as SebastiĆ£o Salgado and Peter Stackpole, for whom she arranges exhibitions in galleries and museums.
"The world was not terribly much aware of fine art photography until Adams was discovered. When Adams, because of his great personality, his flamboyance, his humor, his generous nature, came on the scene and had some help from some promotional people, people started paying attention."
"Initially, there was no photography market; nobody bought prints. When I opened my gallery, which was in 1974, we were selling a 16 inch print for $500." Ursula Gropper