Female figure

History of the work

In field D3 of the Bremgarten cemetery, a bronze female figure from 1964 stands on a family grave. The city's register names Karl Schenk as the artist. Wikimedia Commons attributes the work to Karl Schenk in collaboration with his daughter Kathryn Schenk, and the Karl Schenk Museum lists a bronze female figure in the Bremgarten cemetery among Kathryn's works. The sources give no further details about the commission or the size.

According to the museum, Kathryn Schenk (1939–2018) trained and continued her education in her father's studio. Later she worked as a freelance painter, mainly painting plants and animals in watercolour. The museum also lists a bronze angel relief by her in the Oberwangen cemetery. After her father's death she looked after his estate.

Karl Schenk was born in Bern on 24 October 1905 and died there on 14 December 1973 (SIKART). He was the son of an art metalworker; at his father's wish he trained as a gravestone carver and began to draw and paint at the same time. In 1934 he moved to Paris with a grant and with his wife, and there he met the sculptors Édouard-Marcel Sandoz and Arnold Huggler. He returned to Bern with about 400 drawings and from then on worked independently as a sculptor and painter (Wikipedia). SIKART highlights his portrait busts of politicians and military leaders; in his last twenty years he devoted himself mainly to painting.

Several of Schenk's works can be found in the Bremgarten cemetery, among them the stone sculpture 'Sein und Werden' (Being and Becoming) from 1938 at the old entrance and the portrait head of Robert Grimm in field C2. Since 2019 the Karl Schenk Museum in Fraubrunnen Castle has shown his work; an association founded in 2023 runs the museum.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · Wikimedia Commons: Kategorie Bronzestatue Weibliche Figur (Karl Schenk ⁄ Kathryn Schenk 1964) · Karl Schenk Museum: Kathryn Schenk · Karl Schenk Museum: Lebenslauf Karl Schenk · Karl Schenk Museum: Startseite · SIKART: Karl Schenk · Wikipedia (de): Karl Schenk (Künstler) · Stadt Bern: Broschüre Bremgartenfriedhof (2023)