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History of the work

In section C2 of the Bremgarten cemetery, not far from the funeral hall on Murtenstrasse, stands a granite gravestone with a bronze sculpture by Marcel Perincioli. The city's register dates it to 1976 and lists it without a title. The list of major works that the sculptor's family publishes online names several grave monuments, but none from 1976. We do not name the person buried here.

Perincioli was born in Bern on 14 June 1911 and died there on 10 September 2005. His father Etienne came from Piedmont and worked as a sculptor in Bern from 1908; the son served his apprenticeship with him from 1927 to 1930. He then studied with Charles Despiau in Paris and Wilhelm Otto in Berlin, and in 1943/44 worked in Germaine Richier's studio in Zurich. From 1961 to 1966 he chaired the Society of Swiss Painters, Sculptors and Architects. He became known for runners, javelin throwers and dancers; according to SIKART he later modelled his originals directly in wax.

Perincioli left further works in the same cemetery: his list names an anchor cross of red lava for 1964 and a grave monument for 1977. The nearby funeral hall was built from 1951 to 1955 after a competition held in 1941; the capitals of its porch and its bronze doors are by Gustave Piguet. Perincioli himself is buried in the Schosshalde cemetery, beneath his bronze 'Auferstehung' (Resurrection) of 1979.

The bronze in C2 belongs to the late work of the sculptor, who was in his mid-sixties at the time. When you look at it, note how bronze and grey granite work together, since the available sources describe neither its dimensions nor its subject.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Stadt Bern: Kunstwerke im öffentlichen Raum (opendata.swiss) · SIKART: Marcel Perincioli · HLS: Marcel Perincioli · Perincioli.ch: Verzeichnis grösserer Arbeiten · Bauinventar Stadt Bern: Murtenstrasse 49, 51, 55, 55A (Abdankungshalle) · Stadtgrün Bern: Der Bremgartenfriedhof – Ein Spaziergang mit Geschichten (2023) · Wikipedia (de): Bremgartenfriedhof · Wikimedia Commons: Foto