Untitled

History of the work

In front of the radio studio at Schwarztorstrasse 21 stands an untitled bronze sculpture by Marcel Perincioli. It was part of an ornamental fountain that the studio received in 1974. The fountain has since disappeared, but the sculpture remains. According to Wikimedia Commons it has stood on the Schwarztorstrasse side since the rebuilding of 2008.

Perincioli’s own catalogue of works lists for 1973/74 a bronze sculpture placed in front of the radio studio’s then new building. The studio had been built in 1931 as a six-storey block on Mühlemattstrasse with a low single-storey wing reaching to Schwarztorstrasse. That wing was altered several times, and in 1971 it was given four additional storeys; since then the whole site has read as a closed block.

The sculpture belongs to a period in which Perincioli worked a great deal for buildings and schools. In 1973 he made a bronze relief for the Publicitas building in Bern’s City West, and in 1974 a large aluminium sculpture for the Buchholz school in Thun. After the war, as SIKART notes, he also turned to non-figurative forms alongside his figures in motion.

Perincioli (1911–2005) was born in Bern and learned sculpture from his father, then in Paris and Berlin. From 1961 to 1966 he was central president of the artists’ association GSMBA (Society of Swiss Painters, Sculptors and Architects) and during that time worked for the admission of women artists. The city of Bern awarded him several art prizes; his grave in the Schosshalde cemetery has the status of a notable person’s grave.

At the same building, look up: on the façade facing Mühlemattstrasse are the three limestone reliefs “Weibliche Allegorien” (Female Allegories) that Karl Schenk made for the radio studio around 1949.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · Perincioli: Werksverzeichnis Marcel Perincioli (offizielle Website) · Wikipedia (de): Marcel Perincioli · HLS: Matthias Oberli, Perincioli, Marcel · SIKART: Johanna Strübin Rindisbacher, Marcel Perincioli · Bauinventar Stadt Bern: Baugruppe Monbijou (Radiostudio Schwarztorstrasse 21) · Wikidata: ohne Titel / Abgegangener Zierbrunnen Radiostudio (Q58440626) · Wikimedia Commons: Abgegangener Zierbrunnen Radiostudio DRS Bern (Marcel Perincioli 1974)