Urs Eggenschwyler

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Urs (Ursus) Eggenschwyler (1849–1923) sculptor, draftsman. 1903 with his Zurich lion "Züri-Leuli"
1903 Urs Eggenschwyler with his Zurich lion "Züri-Leuli"

Urs (Ursus) Eggenschwyler (born January 24, 1849 in Subingen , † December 8, 1923 in Zurich ) was a Swiss sculptor , draftsman and painter . He was best known for depicting animals and as the owner of a menagerie .

Life

Urs Eggenschwyler, who is entitled to live in Matzendorf , was born on January 24, 1849 in Subingen as the son of a tenant and driver. He had to finish his education with elementary school. As a trainee he took drawing lessons at the canton school from 1862 to 1864 with portrait painter Gaudenz Taverna and from 1865 to 1868 completed an apprenticeship as a sculptor with Joseph Pfluger . From 1869 to 1870 he worked for Heinrich Spiess in Zurich , where he mainly created animal and human heads. Thereupon he studied in Munich at the Academy of Fine Arts in the sculpture class with Max von Widmann but broke off this course after only one year because he increasingly suffered from hearing loss . He painted and modeled in self-study in the menageries in Munich, studied animal anatomy and also took part in the 1873 World Exhibition in Vienna .

From 1878 Eggenschwyler worked again in Zurich and from 1884 produced centerpieces for various Zurich guilds . In 1888 he created a granite lion for the memorial column in Sempach . In 1891 he set up a private menagerie on the Milchbuck in Zurich, which he ran until his death. Eggenschwyler was considered eccentric ; he often led a lioness on a leash for a walk through Niederdorf . He made artificial rocks for parks and zoological gardens, which he installed at home and abroad, for example in 1896/97 for Carl Hagenbeck in Berlin and Vienna and for Basel Zoo from 1920 to 1922.

Eggenschwyler also created various lion and bear statues for public buildings, including in the entrance area of ​​the Federal Palace in Bern and on the Stauffacher Bridge in Zurich.

He found his final resting place in the Nordheim cemetery .

literature

  • Werner F. Kunz : Urs Eggenschwyler's last confession. In: Swiss Reformed Volksblatt , No. 13, August 13, 1970.
  • Museum of the City of Solothurn: Urs Eggenschwyler (catalog for the 1978 exhibition)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ November 1870, registration in the register for Ursus Eggenschwylwer


Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Eggenschwyler, Urs
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Eggenschwiler, Urs
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss sculptor, draftsman and painter
DATE OF BIRTH January 24, 1849
PLACE OF BIRTH Subingen
DATE OF DEATH December 8, 1923
Place of death Zurich