The Sower

History of the work

On the north facade at the eastern end of the row of houses at Sulgenauweg 48–56, Fred Stauffer painted a sower on the wall in 1939. Wikidata gives a man as its subject and records a signature 'ST'. The mural.ch directory lists the picture as 'Sähmann' at the address Sulgenauweg 56.

The row of five joined, four-storey apartment houses was built in 1939 and 1940 to plans by Gerhard Dachselt. It steps down the sloping ground like terraces. According to the building inventory it was built more simply than first planned, without mansard roofs, and belongs to the sober architecture of around 1940. Two murals with rural subjects decorate the two sides of the main facade: the sower and two women harvesting, the 'Ährenleserinnen' (gleaners). The inventory places them in the Heimatstil tradition. However, it puts the sower on house no. 48 and the gleaners on no. 56, while the city's data and mural.ch place the sower at no. 56.

Fred Stauffer was born in Gümligen in 1892. He attended the Hofwil teachers' college, taught briefly and then studied at the academies in Karlsruhe and Munich, where, according to SIKART, the work of Edvard Munch made a strong impression on him. Back in Bern he took evening classes in life drawing with Ernst Linck. He painted mainly landscapes of the Bern region and received many commissions for murals and stained glass in schools, housing estates and churches; in 1949 he made the painting 'Bergfest bei Lauenen' in the Federal Palace. Stauffer died in Thörishaus in 1980.

The subject was not new to him: mural.ch records a sower as early as 1924 among his murals in the church at Arbon. Walking along the facade in Sulgenauweg, you can look for the companion piece with the harvesting women at the other end of the row.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · Bauinventar Stadt Bern: Sulgenauweg 48–56 (PDF) · mural.ch: Fred Stauffer, Sähmann, 1939, Sulgenauweg 56 · mural.ch: Fred Stauffer (Werkliste) · Wikidata: Sämann (Q64215732) · SIKART: Fred Stauffer (Silvan Faessler) · HLS: Stauffer, Fred (Tapan Bhattacharya) · Wikipedia (de): Fred Stauffer · Wikimedia Commons: Wandmalerei Sämann (Fred Stauffer 1939)