Emil Zbinden

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Emil Zbinden (born June 26, 1908 in Niederönz ; † December 13, 1991 in Bern ) was a Swiss draftsman , xylograph (wood cutter) and painter .

Life

Emil Zbinden's father initially worked as a postillon in Herzogenbuchsee , and from 1916 as a parcel driver in Bern. The family now lived in the Matte district in Bern . Emil attended secondary school there and then completed an apprenticeship as a typesetter . He made his first woodcuts while still an apprentice .

After completing his apprenticeship, he worked for a year as a typographer in a large Berlin printing company. He took evening courses at the Neukölln School of Applied Arts , then from 1929 to 1931 in Leipzig at the State Academy for Graphic Arts .

After returning to Switzerland, he worked as a freelance artist and graphic designer . From 1935 he made book equipment for the Zurich book guild Gutenberg , from 1936 also for the Lausanne Guilde du Livre ; until 1953 he illustrated their famous Gotthelf edition with over 900 wood engravings. His illustrations in the children's book The Black Brothers by Lisa Tetzner also found widespread use and attention . In the 1950s, Emil Zbinden turned increasingly to industrial topics. During the construction of the Albinga dam, he made tempera, watercolors and woodcuts (1956–1959) that were created on the construction site and then in Bern. He also illustrated the construction of the Grimsel dam and other structures such as the new Bern train station.

In 1952 he married "Gritli" Bichsel (she died in 1959); a son, Karl, was born that same year. In 1953, he and Frans Masereel founded an association of wood cutters, Xylon International . From 1957 to 1966 he made book equipment again for the Frankfurt Book Guild Gutenberg.

Zbinden lived and worked in Bern's old town until his death : first on today's Münstergasse , then on Brunngasse .

literature

  • Fritz Hobi: Emil Zbinden. Woodcuts, drawings, illustrations . Catalog for the exhibition at the Gewerbemuseum Winterthur, 1983
  • Emil Zbinden: Landscapes and Images of People. Woodcuts for Jeremias Gotthelf and CA Loosli . Limmat, Zurich 1988; NA ibid. 2008, ISBN 978-3-85791-569-7
  • Tobias Kästli: Emil Zbinden. Draftsman, wood cutter and typographer . Limmat, Zurich 1992, ISBN 3-85791-186-7
  • Werner Wüthrich, Karl Zbinden-Bärtschi (Ed.): Emil Zbinden. Testimonials and photo documents . Limmat, Zurich 2008, ISBN 978-3-85791-568-0
  • Anna M. Schafroth (Ed.): Emil Zbinden. For and against time . Benteli, Sulgen 2008, ISBN 978-3-7165-1550-1
  • Förderverein Emil Zbinden (Ed.): "Albigna. Workers and artists at work - Operai e artisti all'opera" (including Jürg Spichiger: Emil Zbinden and the construction of dams in the Alps / Etienne Wismer: From mountains, stone hewers and concrete towers: Emil's views Zbindens). Edition EigenArt. X-Time publishing house, Bern 2015, ISBN 978-3-909990-28-3

Individual evidence

  1. ^ State Archives of the Canton of Bern: 140 woodcuts by Emil Zbinden for Jeremias Gotthelf's works. 1954, accessed February 10, 2018 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Zbinden, Emil
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss draftsman, xylograph and painter
DATE OF BIRTH June 26, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Niederönz
DATE OF DEATH December 13, 1991
Place of death Bern