Andree Sfeir-Semler

Who is Andree Sfeir-Semler?

Andrée Sfeir-Semler is an art historian and gallery owner with branches in Hamburg, Germany and Beirut, Lebanon. In 2005 she opened a gallery in Beirut in a 1400 m2 factory space in the harbor area. It was the first white cube space in the Middle East. At both locations Sfeir-Semler Gallery represents artists working in the field of conceptual art with a preference on political subjects. Since 2003, Sfeir-Semler Gallery has focused on contemporary art from the Arab World.

Beginnings: Andrée Sfeir-Semler studied fine art at the American University of Beirut. and filmmaking at the “Centre for cinema and television” in Beirut. In 1975 she was awarded a Fulbright Program Scholarship and a DAAD German Academic Exchange Service scholarship to continue her studies as a filmmaker. She opted for the latter. She continued her studies at the universities of Munich, Bielefeld with Wolfgang Mager & Juergen Kocka and at the Sorbonne with Pierre Bourdieu. She finished her PhD in 1980 with a thesis entitled, published at Campus, Frankfurt 1985. The book is a computer based social history of the 19th century French art scene.