Alfred Bernegger

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Mural Kino Piccadilly, Zurich (the red-haired woman is a portrait of his daughter)

Alfred Bernegger (born April 13, 1912 in Lucerne ; † November 19, 1978 in Rheinau ZH ) was a Swiss painter , graphic artist , draftsman , wood and linoleum cutter .

Life

Bernegger grew up as the second of four children in Lucerne. His father was a foreman at Schindler Aufzüge . After finishing school, he attended the arts and crafts school in Lucerne from 1927 to 1929 , where he received drawing lessons from Joseph von Moos (1859–1939). In 1929 he studied at the Académie Julian in Paris, where he became friends with Hans Obrecht, and in 1930/1931 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich .

After completing his studies, he worked in Paris from 1931 to 1932, then in Lucerne and from 1939 in Zurich . He worked as an illustrator for various newspapers and publishers. After his marriage in 1934 he lived in Mallorca, Vienna and Ascona until the family settled in Zurich. During the Second World War he did active service as a graphic designer on the staff of the 8th Division . During this time, special stamps, postcards, linocuts and woodcuts were created. In 1943 his series of woodcut soldiers was published.

On July 20, 1953, he was the main actor in the first show on Swiss television , where he demonstrated the technique of woodcut. After his marriage failed, Bernegger moved to the Künstlerhaus Boswil in 1959 . A tuberculosis disease required several stays in sanatoriums and homes. Between 1966 and 1968 various editions followed in the Verein für Originalgraphik Zürich . Then creative periods alternated with periods of incapacity for work. Between his stays in the sanatorium, he lived in Wasterkingen , Ottenbach , Wernetshausen , Obfelden and Hedingen . In 1978 he died in the cantonal psychiatric clinic in Rheinau.

plant

Bernegger was considered an outsider, he was discovered several times and forgotten again and again. In the 1940s and 1950s he became known for his expressionist woodcuts on the subject of everyday military life (1943) and The Blind (1956).

Max von Moos described the woodcuts in 1955 as follows:

“ All of the types he depicts are variants of a prototype. There stands a man in front of us, in a bad robe, battered and split from life and work. His limbs are twisted and full of arthritis, but within this calcified old machine, the human being, Bernegger develops a feeling for organics that borders on the improbable. The huge feet in the sloppy, broken shoes suck themselves to the merciless earth with stubborn strength. But the scariest thing in Bernegger's work is the hands of his figures. They are of threatening size, padded like a tank with muscle swaths, these are criss-crossed by a tendon knitting mechanism and the iron bones can be felt through everything. Such hands rise for a call, a blow or a gesture of desperation. They are apocalyptic signs, proclaimers of a world judgment. And first the heads! Cracked structures, half piece of rock, half rotten, wrinkled fruit, the mouth (one would rather say the mouth) opened or stuck together into an evil tube of doom! The eyes are wide open with shock or dead. One of the most moving things that Bernegger created is his consequence of the blind. They stand alongside Bruegel . "

- Max von Moos

In addition to his graphic work, woodcuts and linocuts, Bernegger painted landscapes, portraits and numerous self-portraits from 1930 to 1978.

His works can be found in the following museums and collections: Lucerne Art Museum , Museum zu Allerheiligen in Schaffhausen, Winterthur Art Museum , Kunsthaus Zurich , ETH Zurich Graphic Collection, Werner Coninx Foundation, Canton Zurich Art Collection, Zurich City Art Collection.

In the public space of the City of Zurich, there are facade paintings at the entrance to the Piccadilly cinema (1949), a mosaic on the wall fountain of the daycare center Pflanzschulstrasse 30 (1951), and a mosaic at the Apfelbaum schoolhouse (1956).

Exhibitions

  • 1933: October 19 to November 19 at the Casino Winterthur (Damensäli) together with Hans Obrecht, Roland Duss and Raoul Ratnowsky
  • 1952: Hans Mayenfisch Collection , Kunsthaus Zürich
  • Helmhaus Zurich
  • 1977: Retrospective at the Wolfsberg Art Salon in Zurich.
  • 1980: Retrospective at the Lucerne Art Museum

Publications

  • Xaver Schnieper: Soldiers. Linocuts by Alfred Bernegger . Reuss-Verlag, Buchdruckerei Keller & Co., Lucerne 1943.
    • Alfred Bernegger: soldiers. 27 linocuts . Foreword by Hans Eggenberger. Reprint, Association for Original Graphics, Zurich 1989.
  • Alfred Bernegger: The blind. Seven woodcuts by Alfred Bernegger. With accompanying words by Balilla Calzolari. Adolf Hürlimann, Zurich 1956.
Illustrations
  • Josef Hüssler (text), Alfred Bernegger (pictures): How God created the world. Verlag Räber, Lucerne 1940.
  • Agnes von Segesser , Alfred Bernegger (pictures): The ghost in the club hut: A sports history. Schweizerisches Jugendschriftenwerk , Zurich 1940.
  • Paul Theophil Borer, Alfred Bernegger (drawings): Rolling wheels. A contribution to traffic education. Publishing house P. Haupt, Bern 1953.
  • Ernst Balzli (text), Alfred Bernegger (drawing): Res and Resli . Schweizerisches Jugendschriftenwerk, Zurich 1958.
  • Kasper Wolf, Ralph Handloser, Alfred Bernegger (illustrations): We play. Game instructions for the preliminary lesson. Federal Military Department (Ed.), Series of publications by the Federal Gymnastics and Sports School Magglingen, No. 3. Verlag Birkhäuser, Basel 1958.

literature

  • Fritz Billeter: Alfred Bernegger - a legend during his lifetime. To his retrospective at Galerie Wolfsberg . In: Tages-Anzeiger , June 2, 1977.
  • Hans A. Lüthy, Georg Müller (Ed.): Alfred Bernegger. Monograph on the exhibition in the Wolfsberg Art Salon. Verlag Zürcher Forum, Zurich 1977.
  • Martin Kunz, Elisabeth Grossmann, Max von Moos: Alfred Bernegger, 1912–1978 . Lucerne Art Museum, 1980.
  • Association for Original Graphics 1948–1982. Compilation of the catalog of works: H. and H. Zschokke. Orell Füssli, Zurich 1982.
  • Eva Korazija Magnaguagno: The modern woodcut in Switzerland. Limmat Verlag, Zurich 1987.
  • Hans Rudolf Bosshard : Alfred Bernegger, Zurich. Switzerland section of the International Association of Wood Cutters XYLON , 1988.

Web links

Commons : Alfred Bernegger  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Obrecht: curriculum vitae
  2. ^ Registration book entry for Alfred Bernegger. Retrieved June 4, 2020 .
  3. ^ Special edition «50 Years of Swiss Television»: painter Alfred Bernegger
  4. ↑ Tages-Anzeiger of June 2, 1977: Alfred Bernegger - a legend during his lifetime
  5. ^ Kunstmuseum Luzern: Alfred Bernegger (1912-1978) retrospective
personal data
SURNAME Bernegger, Alfred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss painter and wood cutter
DATE OF BIRTH April 13, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Lucerne
DATE OF DEATH November 19, 1978
Place of death Rheinau ZH