Spring

History of the work

In front of the station building of Weissenbühl lies a planted island on which the limestone figure 'Frühling' (Spring) by Walter Schnegg has stood since 1951. Wikidata describes it as a female figure 175 centimetres high. According to the building inventory the material is Laufen limestone. An inscription records that the Weissenbühl neighbourhood association, the beautification society and donors gave the figure to the quarter in 1951.

The station belongs to the Gürbetal railway, whose first section opened in August 1901. According to the building inventory, the station building of 1900 stands stylistically between historicism and the Heimatstil. Together with the goods shed, the small urinal building, the station restaurant and Südbahnhofstrasse, whose central axis leads towards the station, it forms an ensemble. For 1950 the inventory records a new design of the forecourt, one year before the figure was set up.

Locally the sculpture is called 'Erdbeermareili' (strawberry Mary), the building inventory says. The list of Schnegg's works on Wikipedia, however, gives a separate figure 'Erdbeer-Mareili' of 1946 in the front garden at Löchligutweg 27 in the Breitfeld quarter. Whether the nickname passed from there to 'Frühling' cannot be settled from the sources.

Walter Schnegg was born in Köniz in 1903 and died in Bern in 1990. After an apprenticeship in metalworking and one as a sculptor, he attended courses at the Bern school of applied arts, then art schools in Geneva and Paris; study trips took him to Stuttgart, Munich and Italy. SIKART names nudes, animals and fountain figures as his subjects. A year after 'Frühling' he made the painted sandstone bear on the Aarbergerhof in the old town.

Standing in front of the figure, you can also find Schnegg's signature on it, which Wikidata records separately.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · Bauinventar Stadt Bern: Südbahnhofstrasse 14, 14A (PDF) · Bauinventar Stadt Bern: Baugruppe Weissenbühl (PDF) · Wikidata: Frühling (Q64748692) · Wikipedia (de): Bahnhof Bern Weissenbühl · SIKART: Walter Schnegg · Wikipedia (de): Walter Schnegg · Wikimedia Commons: Kalksteinskulptur Frühling (Walter Schnegg 1951)