Cuno Amiet

Cuno Amiet (1868-1961) was one of the most influential Swiss artists around 1900 and is accordingly represented in numerous Swiss art collections. The Im Obersteg Collection, housed in the Kunstmuseum Basel, is no exception. In 2020, the existing group of works by Amiet in the collection was supplemented by the study of Two Nudes of a Girl (1910). Some of Amiet's paintings of children were created during the time of his membership in the Expressionist artists' group "Die Brücke". They show the Swiss artist's rapprochement with his German colleagues as well as his independence. The Expressionists' focus on provocation and interpersonal drama did not interest Amiet, and even the location of the studio is only at first glance comparable to the studio scenes preferred by his Brücke colleagues. Amiet preferred as a subject his stately estate with house, flower garden and fruit trees, and the landscape surrounding the Oschwand in the Bernese Oberaargau in all seasons. He also depicted his closest relatives, especially his wife, in this private setting. At first, children were often shown in connection with flowers or with nature per se, as a symbol of the unity of man and nature. It was only after 1907 that Amiet moved the scenes to the interior of his studio and transferred the content from the allegorical to the everyday. The painting acquired by the Im Obersteg Foundation is an example of this development. It is shown in the exhibition in the context of other children's paintings by Amiet as well as selected works by Brücke artists. Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.