Untitled

History of the work

Anyone entering the kindergarten at Thormannstrasse 80 passes beneath carved and painted woodwork. The posts and the lintel of the entrance carry reliefs that Beat Zumstein made in 1953. On Wikimedia Commons and in Wikidata the untitled work carries the addition 'Kinderszenen' (scenes of children); the city's building inventory speaks of expressive painted carved friezes framing the entrance portico at the centre of the building.

The building goes back to a competition held in 1944 and was built around 1950. It was designed by Henry Daxelhofer and Karl Müller, who together developed a standard type for kindergartens. On Thormannstrasse this type was realised as a double facility whose two parts sit one behind the other at different heights; according to the inventory this form exists only here in Bern. The heritage office points out the colours: off-white, blue-grey and vermilion on the masonry and the timber parts. A hexagonal fountain with mosaic stands in the garden.

Zumstein was born in Bern on 2 August 1927 and died on 1 October 1984 in Péry in the Bernese Jura. SIKART lists him as a painter, woodcut artist and sculptor. According to the French-language Wikipedia he studied graphic design and sculpture at the trade school and from 1948 exhibited carved stone sculptures and woodcuts. For his move to Paris the same article gives 1951 in one place and 1952 in another; there he turned to painting, which became increasingly abstract over time. In 1967 the Kunstmuseum Bern gave him a retrospective, and in the 1970s he called himself Beatus.

The carvings at the kindergarten therefore date from a period when Zumstein was already living in France. Works by him are held by the art museums of Bern and Thun, among others. On site it is worth looking up: the beam above the door is part of the same work as the two side posts.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Thormannstrasse 80 · SIKART: Beat Zumstein · Wikipedia (fr): Béatus Zumstein · Wikidata: Ohne Titel / Kinderszenen · Wikimedia Commons: Holzschnitzerei ohne Titel (Kinderszenen)