Eve

History of the work

Among ferns and shrubs in the garden of the National Library, a naked woman in dark bronze stands on a flat, square slab. Her head is lowered; one arm hangs down along her body, the other is drawn behind her back. The City of Bern's inventory dates the figure to 1932; the file name of a photo on Wikimedia Commons gives 1931.

The French-language Wikipedia offers a clue to its origin: in the 1930s the Swiss National Library, then called Landesbibliothek, acquired a bronze figure titled „Ève à la pomme“, Eve with the Apple. It seems likely that this is the figure in the garden, but the article does not say so explicitly. The subject occupied the sculptor more than once: in the same decade the art museum in Le Locle bought an Eve by him in black granite. The library building had been built between 1929 and 1931 to designs by Alfred Oeschger, Josef Kaufmann and Emil Hostettler.

Carl Albert Angst was born in Geneva on 19 July 1875, the son of a cabinetmaker. From 1896 to 1911 he lived in Paris, first with Jean-Auguste Dampt, from 1903 on his own account; he designed Art Nouveau furniture and made sculpture, especially portraits of children. In 1909 he was one of the five prize-winners in the competition for a Swiss national monument. Back in Geneva he taught at the Ecole des arts industriels from 1911 to 1913. From 1916 to 1918 and from 1927 to 1930 he sat on the Federal Art Commission.

His known works include the pediment figure „La Justice“ on the Federal Supreme Court in Lausanne and the frame of the station clock in Lausanne. The Historical Dictionary of Switzerland sees him as influenced by Auguste Rodin throughout his life. Angst died in Geneva on 4 May 1965. In 1987 many of his works, among them his large statues, burned in a depot of the Geneva Musée d'art et d'histoire.

Walk round the figure to see the hand that stays hidden behind her back when seen from the front.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz: Carl Albert Angst · Wikipedia (fr): Carl Angst · SIKART Lexikon: Carl Albert Angst · Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Hallwylstrasse 15 (Landesbibliothek) · Wikimedia Commons: Foto des Werks (Ansicht)