Being and Becoming

History of the work

At the old entrance of the Bremgarten cemetery on Murtenstrasse stands the sculpture 'Sein und Werden' (Being and Becoming) by the Bernese sculptor Karl Schenk. It was erected on this spot in 1938 and is carved from Blaubank stone. The Karl Schenk Museum describes it as a sculpture with two female figures; according to the City of Bern's brochure on the cemetery, it represents life and death.

When it was set up, this spot was the gateway to the cemetery. According to the brochure, anyone standing here then looked straight at the sculpture and, behind it, at the wide grounds. From 1890 Bern's first tram line ran from the Bärengraben via the railway station to the cemetery, which at that time still lay outside the city. In 1941 the city held a competition for a new funeral hall and administration building, won by the architects Dubach and Gloor. Construction only went ahead after a motion in the city parliament in 1949; the new main entrance and the buildings were completed in 1954. Since then the sculpture has stood away from today's entrance.

Schenk (1905–1973) came from Bern. According to Wikipedia, at the wish of his father, an art metalworker, he trained as a gravestone carver while drawing and painting on the side. In 1934 he went to Paris with a grant; he returned with about 400 drawings and settled in Bern as a freelance sculptor and painter. SIKART mainly mentions his portrait busts of politicians and military leaders. Other works in Bern are the worker on the north façade of the town hall and the woman drawing water on the pumping station of the city's water supply (Karl Schenk Museum).

The sculpture evidently mattered to Schenk: the portfolio published in 1948 as a first overview of his work, issued in 500 numbered copies, shows a detail of 'Sein und Werden'. Further works by him stand in the cemetery, among them the portrait head of Robert Grimm in field C2.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · Stadt Bern: Broschüre Bremgartenfriedhof (2023) · Karl Schenk Museum: Lebenslauf Karl Schenk · Karl Schenk Museum: Werkverzeichnis · SIKART: Karl Schenk · Wikipedia (de): Karl Schenk (Künstler) · Wikimedia Commons: Blaubanksteinstatue Sein und Werden (Karl Schenk 1938)