Open Sesame!
dal 6/3/2014 al 23/8/2014
Segnalato da
Johann Heinrich Füssli
Arnold Böcklin
Angelika Kauffmann
Alexandre Calame
Rudolf Koller
Giovanni and Augusto Giacometti
Giovanni Segantini
Cuno Amiet
Félix Vallotton
Albert Anker
Ferdinand Hodler
Frank Buchser
Adolf Dietrich
Niklaus Stoecklin
Matthias Frehner
Valentina Locatelli
6/3/2014
Open Sesame!
Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern
Anker, Hodler, Segantini... Masterpieces from the Foundation for Art, Culture and History. The exhibition takes a breathtaking and exciting tour of Swiss art history. Over 140 works by Swiss artists from the collection with paintings by Johann Heinrich Fussli and Arnold Bocklin, Giovanni and Augusto Giacometti, as well as Giovanni Segantini, Cuno Amiet and Felix Vallotton.
Curated by Matthias Frehner and Valentina Locatelli
Winterthur patron of the arts Bruno Stefanini (*1924) established the Stiftung für Kunst, Kultur und
Geschichte (Foundation for Art, Culture and History) in 1980. In the 1950s he began purchasing
small-format pictures by Robert Zünd. Over the decades Stefanini accumulated an impressive
collection of some 8,000 artworks that offers an encyclopaedic overview of the whole spectrum of
artistic creation in Switzerland from the 18th to the early 20th century.
We will be presenting over 140 works by Swiss artists from the collection—some of them for the
very first time—with paintings by Johann Heinrich Füssli and Arnold Böcklin, Angelika Kauffmann,
Alexandre Calame and Rudolf Koller, Giovanni and Augusto Giacometti, as well as Giovanni
Segantini, Cuno Amiet and Félix Vallotton. Further highlights include works by Albert Anker, such as
his magical Mädchen, die Haare flechtend (Girl Platting Her Hair), Ferdinand Hodler’s highly complex
Heilige Stunde (Sacred Hour), as well as General Sherman’s Party by globetrotter Frank Buchser,
through to New Objectivity featuring works by Adolf Dietrich and Niklaus Stoecklin.
The exhibition and catalogue are arranged thematically so that landscapes, pictures of children,
history paintings, portraits, still lives etc. are presented in individual sections. Bringing together
both the renowned and the unfamiliar, the show takes us on a breathtaking and exciting tour of
Swiss art history packed full of surprises. The largest-ever group of rock crystals found in the Alps
and Empress Elizabeth of Austria’s riding outfit are representative of the outstanding objects from
other areas of the collection.
Under the moniker of Stiftung für Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte the foundation has granted loans of
individual pieces to exhibitions until the present. Now for the first time insights into the entirety of
this tremendous treasure vault are made possible by our show. A catalogue will accompany the
exhibition, which, subsequent to Bern, will also be showing at the Fondation Pierre Gianadda in
Martigny. The catalogue (in German and French) is richly illustrated, divided into different sections
each with a specific thematic focus, and contains essays by Therese Bhattacharya-Stettler, Gian
Casper Bott, Matthias Frehner, Yvonne Fritz, Caroline Kesser, Valentina Locatelli, Isabelle Messerli,
Daniel Spanke and Peter Wegmann (312 pages, 183 images, CHF 49.00).
Image: Ferdinand Hodler, The Disillusioned, 1892. Oil on canvas, 110.5 x 221 cm. Foundation for Art, Culture and History
Brigit Bucher
lic. phil. hist./eidg. dipl. PR-Beraterin
Corporate Public Relations
T +41 31 328 09 21
Brigit.Bucher@kunstmuseumbern.ch
Kunstmuseum Bern
Hodlerstrasse 8-12, Bern
Hours: Tuesday 10h - 21h, Wednesday-Sunday:10h - 17h
Admissions: Combined Ticket CHF 26.00 /red. CHF 22.00, Children (up to 16): free