| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
After school at Eton and graduating from Edinburgh University Jopling began by dealing post-war American art. In 1991 probably the most significant event of Jopling's career occurred as Jopling formed a friendship with the artist Damian Hirst. In terms of background the two could not have been more dissimilar but Hirst had grown up in Leeds and Jopling had family connections in the area. Hirst had already sold a number of works to the influential collector Charles Saatchi but was having difficulty financing the production of new work which Jopling then arranged.
Initially Jopling only supported a small list of artists including Hirst and Marc Quinn organising exhibitions in warehouses. In 1993 he opened White Cube as a blue chip gallery in St James's, London. In 2000 the gallery moved to a larger space in Hoxton. Along the way Jopling acquired representation of a formidable list of young British artistsYoung British Artists is the name given to a collective of conceptual artists based in the United Kingdom. It is often reduced to "YBA". The work of the YBAs is dubbed Britart . The phrase is attributed to a series of exhibitions organised at the Saatchi including Sam Taylor-Wood , the Chapman Brothers, Tracey EminTracey Emin (born 1963) is an English artist, one of the so-called Young British Artists (YBAs). She is probably only second to Damien Hirst among the YBAs in terms of notoriety among the general public. In particular, her piece My Bed part of 1999's Turn and Anthony Gormley.
With his trademark rectangular frame glasses and Saville Row suits Jopling is often portrayed as a swengali figure moulding and manipulating his artists and the market. While he is one of the most succesful British gallerists in recent history this is more a result of his astute business sense. Jopling has the knack for picking up artists for whom there is already an established market such as Hirst or encouraging artists with established pedigree to become more market friendly.