The Goat Boy

History of the work

In thick greenery beside the kindergarten on the Dalmaziquai, a boy in short trousers stands on a mossy rock, with a young goat on either side of him rearing up on its hind legs. The group is carved from Laufen limestone. The city's inventory calls it „Der Geissenbub“, the building inventory and the German-language Wikipedia write „Der Geissbub“; all date it to 1942. According to the building inventory it stands to the north of the playground.

The kindergarten itself was only built in 1945 and 1946. Henry Daxelhofer and Karl Müller developed the pavilion of timber posts with Durisol panels set between them as a standard type. The building inventory considers it significant for the history of post-war kindergarten building across Switzerland and points out that it survives with its fittings as built. The building stands in a park with old trees on a narrow strip between the road and the Dalmazibach stream. The ensemble also includes a mural, „Morgen“ (Morning), by Fred Stauffer from 1946.

Johanna Keller was born in Bern on 28 August 1902 and grew up in the parsonage at Steffisburg. She trained as a teacher and from 1920 to 1922 learned modelling with Karl Hänny at the School of Applied Arts in Bern. She then studied sculpture in Geneva, later in Berlin, Florence and Paris. For eight years she was secretary of the Swiss Society of Women Artists. From 1935 she worked in her studio at Altenbergstrasse 106 in Bern, mainly in stone: busts, fountain figures, gravestones, and figures of people and animals. Her known works include the grave sculpture „Den Einsamen“ (To the Lonely) of 1968 in Thun cemetery. She died in Bern on 8 February 1991; her papers are held in the Gosteli Archive.

It is worth looking at the kindergarten as well: the deep porch facing the road and the glazing-bar windows still show the timber building as it was built in the 1940s.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · Wikipedia (de): Johanna Keller · SIKART Lexikon: Johanna Keller · Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Dalmaziquai 91 (Kindergarten) · Wikimedia Commons: Foto des Werks (Ansicht)