Narcissus

History of the work

In the garden of the Bernese State Archives on Falkenplatz stands a fountain with a bronze figure: 'Narziss' (Narcissus) by Marcel Perincioli. Perincioli made it in 1939 for the Swiss National Exhibition in Zurich, as the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, SIKART and Wikipedia all agree. The figure later came to Bern.

The State Archives had moved to this site only shortly before. Since the 15th century Bern had kept its records in the vaults of the town hall; the idea of a new building in the Länggasse district went back to the head of the building department, Robert Grimm, in the 1930s. In 1939/40 the archives moved into the building on Falkenplatz designed by Walter von Gunten. From 1984 to 1986 a four-storey underground store for the protection of cultural property was built on the same site.

Marcel Perincioli was born in Bern on 14 June 1911. His father Etienne, a sculptor from Piedmont, had worked in the city since 1908 and trained him from 1927 to 1930. Stays in Paris with Charles Despiau and in Berlin with Wilhelm Otto followed. A first portrait commission in 1938 was followed by the Narcissus in 1939 and, from 1941 to 1943, by the large relief on the city's fire station. He later became known for runners, dancers and javelin throwers. The city of Bern gave him its art prize in 1947, 1948 and 1953, and from 1961 to 1966 he was president of the Society of Swiss Painters and Sculptors. He died in Bern on 10 September 2005.

The subject stayed with him: the list of his larger works on the family website records the figure at the State Archives as 'Narziss 1' and gives a second Narcissus of 1950 in a private collection in Muri near Bern. Looking at the figure by the fountain, you see one of the early public works of a sculptor whose figures now stand in many places in and around Bern.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · HLS: Perincioli, Marcel (Matthias Oberli) · SIKART: Marcel Perincioli (Johanna Strübin Rindisbacher) · Wikipedia (de): Marcel Perincioli · perincioli.ch: Verzeichnis grösserer Arbeiten von Marcel Perincioli · Wikipedia (de): Staatsarchiv des Kantons Bern · Wikimedia Commons: Staatsarchiv-Brunnen (Narziss I, Marcel Perincioli 1939)