Einführung für Lehrpersonen. Eisen und Stahl: Paolo Bellini, James Licini, Josef Maria Odermatt

The BKG played a decisive role in the foundation of the Kunstmuseums Bern, which opened its doors to the public in 1879. Therefore, on the occasion of BKG’s bicentennial, the Kunstmuseum is mounting an exhibition dedicated to the art society and presenting works by the AC Scholarship winners. A selection of around 100 artists will each be represented by one artwork executed in the year they received the scholarship. In this way, an impressive panorama of art comes together of art produced in the Canton of Bern over a period of 70 years. Artists aged 40 and under who live in the Canton of Bern can apply for an AC Scholarship. The exhibition title Feu Sacré refers to the commitment of both the artists and the BKG. The AC Scholarship is the most generous private art prize in Switzerland and is awarded annually. Thus the Bernische Kunstgesellschaft makes a major contribution to promoting young talent.

A three-strong jury will select men and women artists for the Bicentennial exhibition. The scope of art techniques and materials is immense, ranging from the abstraction of the 1940s and concrete art to tachism, pop art, photorealism, and new media. Thus we are in fact presenting a retrospective of Bern art to the public that will attract attention way beyond the borders of the Canton.

Since the first AC Scholarship was granted in 1942, 193 award winners of both sexes have been chosen, among them many artists who are now internationally famous, such as Bernhard Luginbühl, Markus Raetz, Franz Gertsch, George Steinmann, Illona Ruegg, Marie-Antoniette Chiarenza, and Daniel Hauser, Frantiček Klossner, Chantal Michel, Kotscha Reist, l/b Sabina Lang and Daniel Baumann, Reto Leibundgut, San Keller and Claude Hohl. In the last five years Peter Aerschmann, Christian Denzler, Julia Steiner, Zimoun, and Niklaus Wenger were among the artists who received an AC Scholarship. And, over the years, the jury members of the AC Scholarship were no less famous than the award-winning artists, boasting Meret Oppenheim, Harald Szeemann, Bice Curiger, Ulrich Loock, Nika Spalinger, Gianni Jetzer, Samuel Herzog, Andreas Fiedler, and Roger Fayet.