Untitled

History of the work

In the planting in front of the driveway of the Carl-Ludwig-Lory-Haus, formerly the Lory hospital, lies an untitled sculpture in tuff. Mariann Grunder made it in 1970; Wikimedia Commons describes it as having four parts. Tuff is a porous stone, and according to the Inselspital's leaflet on the Inselpark the small sculpture is slowly eroding under the effects of the weather. Also according to the leaflet, the architects' office Itten+Brechbühl donated the work in 1973.

The office had close ties to the site: Otto Brechbühl designed the Lory hospital in 1929/30 together with Otto R. Salvisberg for the canton of Bern. The building inventory describes the building, with its far-projecting balcony slabs on the south side, as a threshold building of modernism; it is a cultural property of national significance and was completely renovated in 1984–1987. The terraced garden was later redesigned by the landscape architect Dieter Kienast.

Grunder was born in Bern on 16 January 1926 and died there on 28 April 2016. According to SIKART, she qualified as a primary school teacher in 1946 and from that year often travelled to Paris. In 1954 she began an apprenticeship as a sculptor with Werner Dubi in Gümligen, and in 1960 she studied with László Szabó in Paris to round off her training. In 1964 she had her first solo exhibition at the Galerie Schindler in Bern; in the same year her friendship with Meret Oppenheim began. She sat on art commissions and on Bern's cemetery commission, and in 1986 the Kunstmuseum Bern showed an overview of her work.

Around 1970, according to SIKART, Grunder was working on small sculptures with axes of symmetry and mirroring. Later she deliberately used forms and surfaces created by time and chance. In front of the Lory building you can watch exactly this: the weather keeps working on the edges of the stones.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · SIKART: Mariann Grunder · Wikipedia (de): Mariann Grunder · Inselspital, Direktion Infrastruktur: Flyer Inselpark (2018) · Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Freiburgstrasse 41G (Loryspital) · Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Baugruppe Loryspital · Wikimedia Commons: Tuffsteinskulptur ohne Titel (Mariann Grunder 1970)