Fritz Buergin was born
on August 16, 1917 in Läufelfingen (BL/Switzerland). During the Thirties
he decided to become a professional artist. Encouragement came from Walter
Eglin, who lived in the neigbouring village of Kaenerkinden and was at that
time just being recognized as a woodcut artist.
In the beginning, Walter Eglin taught Buergin the art of the woodcut, at the
same time Buergin helped Eglin to find suitable stones for the large mosaic
"Mission" which adorns the main building of the University of Basle.
Later on Buergin worked as a self-taught stone sculptor. During this period
he also occasionally helped Jakob Probst, another sculptor, in his workshop.
Buergin was very much impressed by an exhibition at the Basle Museum of Fine
Art in the fall of 1944 that showed works by such artists as Marino Marini,
Arnold D'Altri, Fritz Wotruba and Germaine Richier.
In 1945 he received an 'encouragement grant' from the Swiss Federal Grant
Committe, in 1951 another federal grant enabled him to attend Germaine Richier's
School for Sculpture in Paris for one year. After coming back to Switzerland,
he gained recognition with several sculptures, particularly in 'Baselland',
but also more widely. The Swiss Art Exhibition of 1956, e.g., showed an imaginary
portrait of the poet Charles Baudelaire and a "Desert Bird". The
sculpture "Coq", now at the central courtyard of Basle's main university
building, won a first prize in an ananonymous contest against well-known competitors.
In 'Baselland' Buergin became well-known to a wider public with his creation
of the so-called Uli-Schad-fountain in Oberdorf (1953). Other publicly commissioned
works were soon to follow. A display of these works may be seen in the part
of the museum called "Werke im oeffentlichen Raum" ("Works
in public spaces").
Besides woodcuts, sculptures and reliefs Buergin's work also comprises drawings.
They were mainly executed in the Sixties. There is one main theme at the center
of Buergin's drawings: Man as part of a group, man as an individual and society.
Among Buergin's sculptures there are many animals. Some praise the beauty
of nature, others show the artist's self that has to assert itself in a difficult
environment.
Fritz Buergin for many years lived with his family in Bubendorf before retreating
to the senior citizen's home of Ruettihubelbad (village of Walkringen, canton
Berne). Fritz Buergin died on 23 october 2003.
Translation by Karin Isernhagen