Girl

History of the work

In section C10 of the Schosshalde cemetery stands a bronze statue by Gustave Piguet titled 'Mädchen' (Girl). The city's register dates it to 1962. Like many figures in this cemetery it is a grave ornament; the city's cemetery brochure notes that most sculptures here belong to a particular grave and survive only as long as the grave monument is kept. The sources do not say for whom the figure was made.

Piguet was born in Interlaken on 19 February 1909 and died on 12 December 1976; his place of citizenship was Le Chenit in the Vaud Jura. SIKART describes him as a sculptor who worked mainly for buildings and public space. According to the short biography on the art portal AskArt, he trained in Bern as a wood and stone sculptor, then went to Paris and took part in the 1937 World Exhibition. In 1939 the outbreak of war brought him back to Bern, where many commissions followed.

One example is in another Bern cemetery: for the funeral hall of the Bremgarten cemetery, Piguet made the four capitals of the porch with scenes from the New Testament and the bronze doors, from 1955 onwards. According to the city's brochure the doors show signs of the zodiac standing for the four seasons. AskArt also mentions works at the Kunsthalle, the town hall and St Peter's church.

According to the city, the Schosshalde cemetery was consecrated on 30 December 1877 and opened on 1 January 1878; Wikipedia gives 1877 as the opening year. At 16.8 hectares it is now Bern's largest cemetery. On the way to the figure in C10 you can discover other bronzes from those years, such as Marcel Perincioli's 'Grosser Engel' (Great angel) of 1958/59.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Stadt Bern: Kunstwerke im öffentlichen Raum (opendata.swiss) · SIKART: Gustave Piguet · AskArt: Gustave Piguet · Stadtgrün Bern: Der Bremgartenfriedhof – Ein Spaziergang mit Geschichten (2023) · Stadtgrün Bern: Broschüre Schosshaldenfriedhof (2023) · Wikipedia (de): Schosshaldenfriedhof · Wikimedia Commons: Foto