Children Going to School

History of the work

On the western outer wall of the Stöckacker school's gymnasium, facing Bienenstrasse, there is a large sgraffito by Toni Grieb. It is called 'Zur Schule gehende Kinder' (Children Going to School); according to Wikidata it measures 9 by 15 metres and shows boys, girls and a dog. The city's data give 1957 to 1960 as the period of its making, Wikipedia gives 1960.

The school is only a little older. In 1946 the municipality bought the grounds of the former Ladenwandgut estate from the Burgergemeinde. On the plateau in the north-west the architect Rolf Berger built the primary school in 1954 and 1955: two two-storey classroom buildings, a gymnasium with an annex, and a single-storey building with the caretaker's flat and staff rooms. A long gallery serves as a covered playground and links the buildings. The building inventory stresses the well-thought-out concept of materials and colours of the plain, multicoloured blocks. Caretaker's house, gallery and gymnasium together form an entrance court that closes off Bienenstrasse.

Grieb was born in Bern on 14 December 1918. The artists' lexicon SIKART describes him as a botanist and painter and lists landscapes, designs for murals and sculpture among his work. In 1953 he received a grant from the Aeschlimann Corti foundation, and he taught at the Kunstgewerbeschule (school of applied arts) in Bern. According to Wikipedia, in the 1970s he was regarded as a pioneer of artistic colour photography.

In 1962 Grieb married the artist Lilly Keller. The couple moved into an old mill in Montet near Cudrefin in the canton of Vaud and laid out a park of about 6,000 square metres with rare bamboos and conifers; as a bamboo expert Grieb was known far beyond Switzerland. He died in Villars-le-Grand on 26 February 2008. To see the picture, stand on Bienenstrasse in front of the gym: only from there can you take in the whole wall, including the dog among the children.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · Wikipedia (de): Toni Grieb · SIKART: Toni Grieb · Bauinventar Stadt Bern: Baugruppe Schulhaus Stöckacker · Wikidata: Zur Schule gehende Kinder (Q71333789) · Wikimedia Commons: Kategorie Sgraffito Zur Schule gehende Kinder (Toni Grieb 1960)