Création

History of the work

'Création' is one of the two reliefs of Laufen limestone set into the facade on either side of the entrance to the Kunsthalle Bern. Gustave Piguet made them in 1946; the companion piece is titled 'Inspiration'. The city's data give the same location for both, to the left and right of the entrance, without assigning the sides. On Wikimedia Commons, moreover, the photographs are labelled the other way round.

According to SIKART, Piguet was born in Interlaken on 19 February 1909 and died on 12 December 1976. The lexicon lists him as a sculptor who worked for buildings and public space and records 18 exhibitions and three awards. A short biography on the art portal AskArt says he trained in Bern as a wood and stone sculptor, worked on the 1937 World Exhibition in Paris and came back in 1939. As further places in Bern with his work, AskArt names the town hall and St Peter's church.

At the time the Kunsthalle was not yet thirty years old. The Kunsthalle Bern association had it built in 1917 and 1918, and it opened on 5 October 1918. In 1946, the year of the reliefs, the directorship passed from Max Huggler to Arnold Rüdlinger. Later, Harald Szeemann with 'When Attitudes Become Form' (1969) and Christo and Jeanne-Claude, who wrapped the whole building in July 1968, made the Kunsthalle known internationally.

Right in front of the Kunsthalle there are more works in public space: at the bridgehead, Etienne Perincioli's centaur of 1918 and Florian Dombois' seismometer 'Der stille Portier' (The Silent Porter). At the entrance itself, compare the two reliefs carved from the same pale limestone.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · SIKART: Gustave Piguet · AskArt: Gustave Piguet, Biografie · Wikipedia (de): Kunsthalle Bern · Wikimedia Commons: Kalksteinrelief Inspiration (Gustave Piguet 1946)