Hans Brandenberger

Hans Brandenberger was a Swiss stone and bronze sculptor born in Dutch East India, the son of a Swiss in Dutch service and a Javanese woman. Back in Switzerland he was an apprentice of sculptor Hans Markwalder in Zürich. In the 1930s he worked as cartoonist for Swiss magazines and from 1937, he worked as a sculptor, first in Italy and France, and then again in Zürich. Brandenberger became well-known for his sculpture Wehrbereitschaft (Spiritual Defense) at the 1939 Swiss National Exhibition. He then received frequent orders for heroic and pathetic statues and sculptures. After World War II this kind of work was no longer requested and Brandenberger fell into oblivion, but still created sculptures and ornaments for public and private clients.

Brandenberger was also an athlete and, above all, an avid marksman, and he also took an artistic approach to the topic. His 1948 entry for the Olympic art competition was a study for another life-size figure called Runner. It was exhibited at the horticultural exhibition in Zürich in 1953 and later sold. In 1957-58 the figure was prepared for a bronze casting as a commission for a sports field in Zürich.