Portrait head of Robert Grimm

History of the work

On the stele of Robert Grimm's grave in field C2 of the Bremgarten cemetery sits a portrait head in bronze. Karl Schenk modelled it in 1933, a quarter of a century before Grimm's death. The catalogue of works of the Karl Schenk Museum lists it as a bust from 1933; the list of works on Wikipedia notes that it stands on the grave stele. The city's list of notable burials records the grave as number 9011/00 1280.

Robert Grimm (1881–1958) was born in Wald in the canton of Zurich. According to the City of Bern's brochure on the cemetery, he started out as a printer, became editor-in-chief of the 'Berner Tagwacht' and served as a member of the city parliament, the cantonal parliament and the city government, and for a total of 43 years in the National Council. In 1915 he co-organised the international socialist conference of Zimmerwald, which Lenin also attended. In 1918, as president of the Olten Action Committee, he was the driving force behind the national general strike and was afterwards sentenced to six months in prison; in 1938 the canton of Bern elected him its first Social Democratic member of the cantonal government, and in 1946 he presided over the National Council (Wikipedia).

Schenk (1905–1973) was at home in Bern. After an apprenticeship as a gravestone carver, which he completed at his father's wish, he went to Paris with a grant in 1934 and then settled in Bern as a freelance sculptor and painter (Wikipedia). SIKART highlights his portrait busts of politicians and military leaders. The museum lists busts of General Guisan and of the federal councillors Häberlin, Etter, Nobs, Minger and Petitpierre.

In the portfolio published in 1948, the first overview of Schenk's work, the bust 'Nationalrat Robert Grimm' appears as the seventh plate among the bronze busts. In the same field C2 stands a second bronze by Schenk, 'Sterbender Jüngling mit Frauenfigur' (Dying Youth with Female Figure) from 1959.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · Wikimedia Commons: Kategorie Bronzeplastik Porträtkopf Robert Grimm (Karl Schenk 1933) · Karl Schenk Museum: Werkverzeichnis · Karl Schenk Museum: Lebenslauf Karl Schenk · Wikipedia (de): Karl Schenk (Künstler) · SIKART: Karl Schenk · Wikipedia (de): Robert Grimm · Stadt Bern: Broschüre Bremgartenfriedhof (2023) · Stadt Bern: Persönlichkeiten und Prominenz auf dem Bremgartenfriedhof