Female Voices in Art: Fru Tholstrup, Art advisor and Curator

Fru Tholstrup (b. 1969, London, UK) is a London-based art consultant and curator with a deep knowledge of the contemporary global art market, advising collectors and international businesses on building museum-quality art collections. She is best known for her role launching Sotheby’s flagship London Art Gallery, S|2 in 2013, working closely with S|2 New York and Hong Kong curating exhibitions. Fru guided the gallery to commercial and critical success with an ambitious and diverse programme. Her trademark is a creative approach to making engaging and original exhibitions; An ability honed during 10 years as Director of London’s Haunch of Venison Gallery. Fru Tholstrup and Jonathan Yeo curated the Soho House Art Collection, which began with the West Hollywood House and more recently Fru curated the extensive art collection for the Saudi Royal Family’s Hotel de Crillon in Paris and presented 21st Century Women at Unit London, an iconic and acclaimed group exhibition celebrating the centenary of women receiving the right to vote.

Could you tell us something about your role in the art world?

My role in the art world has taken many guises, I started at Sotheby’s very young and remained there for 8 years, this preliminary knowledge was invaluable. I then moved on to work for Haunch of Venison where I stayed for 10 years loving every second engaging with artists, embracing and supporting their practice, I then went back to Sotheby’s to set up their first gallery platform. Currently I am an Independent curator and art advisor, championing and promoting artists and honing all the skills from my auction house and gallery days.

What did you enjoy about being a part of this project?

I think Carla’s diverse portrait project, Artfully Dressed: Women in the Art World, is utterly genius – it’s such a celebration of women involved in the arts and an extraordinary historical and visual documentation of women’s roles in the artworld forevermore on record.

Do you have a favourite artist?

Too many to mention but my passion is Barbara Hepworth, I dream of owning a work one day, her spirit and form is mesmerising and takes my breath away.

What is your earliest memory involving art?

My Father was passionate about art and with a seminal eye introduced me to many aspects of art – it was in my blood very young, I knew it was my path.

Do you have any special thoughts about the position of women in the art world ?

Women are now a commanding and spiritous stronghold in the art world – a force that has been gaining momentum by the day – when I started my career in the artworld we were a minority. My mentor at Sotheby’s was Melanie Clore, she was so innovative and brave in a very male dominated world as it was in my youth, I am very grateful for her leadership and vision.

What are you wearing, and is there a story behind it?

I am wearing an almost military like dress designed by Alice Temperley that I bought specifically for the opening of my 21st Century Women show that I curated with Jane Neal, at Unit London, which was an iconic highly acclaimed group show of British female artists celebrating the centenary of women receiving the right to vote. The exhibition was a survey of emerging and established British female talent working across a wide range of disciplines. The show included artists who use their work to examine the body politics surrounding the female body and the role of women in contemporary society. The exhibition also involved artists who address the fractured sense of being that many women today express in terms of the creation and division of their identities.

What impact has the current health crisis on your daily practice ?

I miss not being able to have the interaction with Artists in their studios to guide and encourage and I miss not being able to talk to my clients in their own environments and visually engage with artworks and galleries and art institutions. But it’s been a moment of reflection and there has been an abundance of overwhelming incredible digital inspiration that we wouldn’t have had access to without this pandemic.

Is it changing your views on Art?

I think that the platforms that have been created have made us all think outside the box on multiple levels. I am delighted that the art world has now had to become more transparent which is a remarkable and stimulating way forward.

Are you creating new initiatives and ways of working?

Yes definitely – myself and artist W.K. Lyhne co-founded The Sequested Prize — an invented shorthand for ‘ sequestered ’ — which was an open call initiative for portrait artists that championed hope and creativity at a time when the art market was widely suffering across all areas during the Covid-19 pandemic which has been a massive success. The art world has shifted and in many aspects in a positive way and I will do all that I can with initiatives to support and inspire artists and galleries during these unprecedented times, I really think it’s a meaningful, dynamic and energised moment.