18 January to 23 December 2025
Opening 18 and 19 January 2025, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. on both dates
Opening hours: Wednesday to Friday, 1-5 pm, as well as upon request
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Karl Walser, the brother of the writer Robert Walser, was highly successful during his lifetime: whether as an illustrator for leading book publishers, as a stage designer for Max Reinhardt in Berlin, as the designer of murals in the City-Bad in Zurich or in Bern's town hall and municipal theatre - he achieved mastery in all disciplines. The exhibition ‘Götterliebling, Augenpoet, Erfolgsmensch’, which opens on 18/19 January as part of the gallery weekend at the Robert Walser Centre, will surprise visitors with works that have never been on public display before, such as a spectacular drawing from 1894 depicting the 16-year-old Robert Walser that has recently been found in a cellar in Biel/Bienne's old town.
In the tradition of the ‘Office Exhibitions’, which the Robert Walser Centre established with works by Markus Zürcher, Thomas Schütte and Pamela Rosenkranz, Karl Walser's paintings will occupy the central library room and the Centre's offices. This setting is part of the programme, as the exhibition is not the final result of a curation, but marks the start of an exploration of the multi-faceted artist.
Karl Walser is crucial to the literary career of his brother Robert. This is another reason why the artist is of great importance to the Walser Centre. In recent years, the Centre has initiated publications on his artistic development, worked with the City of Bern to redesign his gravesite in the Schosshalden cemetery and is contributing to the major Karl Walser exhibition that will be shown in three major cities in Japan in 2026.
The new exhibition at the Robert Walser Centre will run for a year and is an opportunity for lectures, work meetings and workshops, which will be held together with institutions that have significant Karl Walser collections. In view of Karl Walser's 150th birthday in 2027, the dimensions of his work will be explored and illuminated anew. There is hardly another artist of his time who used so many different mediums of expression. He was a designer and illustrator of books, designed stage sets and costumes, drew, painted watercolours and oil paintings, made his mark with prints, created frescoes and murals in private and public buildings, was a board member of the modern artists' association “Berliner Secession” and, as has only recently become known, designed fabric and wallpaper patterns for the Goethe House in Frankfurt am Main.
A new edition of Bernhard Echtes and Dominique Uldry's book ‘Seltsame Käuze, wir zwei.’ Karl und Robert Walser (Nimbus Verlag) will be published to accompany the exhibition; also recommended is the new publication by Verena Senti-Schmidlin Karl Walser. Maler, Grafiker, Bühnenbildner, Raumgestalter (Gebr. Mann Verlag).
Recommended reading
Dominique Uldry and Bernhard Echte: ‘Seltsame Käuze, wir zwei.’ Karl und Robert Walser. 2., überarbeitete Auflage. Wädenswil: Nimbus 2024.
Verena Senti-Schmidlin: Karl Walser: Maler – Grafiker – Bühnenbildner – Raumgestalter. Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag 2023.
Further information on Karl Walser can also be found on our website.
Lenders: Bernhard Echte (Wädenswil), Ariane Levy-Fröhlich (Zurich), Neues Museum Biel, Stiftung für Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte Winterthur, Alain Claude Sulzer (Basel), Daniel Thierstein (Biel), Städtische Wessenberg-Galerie Konstanz (D).
With the kind support of Cornelia and Daniel Stettler.