The Surbek Collection

Victor Surbek and Marguerite Frey-Surbek were a well-known Bernese Couple, each of whom strove to be recognized as an independent artist in their own right. Despite their close cooperation, two very different oeuvres emerged from their 60 year union. Due to their close ties with Spiez Castle, they donated a large number of their diverse works to the foundation in 1964.

The Surbeks and the Spiez Castle

The Surbeks have a special relationship to Spiez Castle as it once belonged to Marguerite Frey-Surbek’s brother-in-law, the medical doctor Carl Wilhelm Schiess (1869–1929), and to her sister Helene Schiess-Frey (1882–1962).
Wilhelm Schiess inherited the property from his aunt in 1919, which required an enormous amount of money for renovation. In 1927 the Spiez Castle Foundation was established and they acquired the castle in 1929. In 1964 the Surbeks and the Spiez Castle Foundation concluded an agreement concerning the donation of representative works by the two artists. There are almost a hundred paintings and numerous sketches on paper. Two years earlier the Spiez Castle Foundation had already received Le Roselier, a house that was once part of the castle. Helene Schiess had lived there following her husband's death and Victor painted frescoes for it in 1933 and 1934.

Biographies

Marguerite Frey-Surbek (1886 – 1981)
1886: Born on 23 February in Delémont; Jeanne Marguerite Frey is the third of five children, daughter of Jean Albert Frey, a Forester, and Lisa Juliette Frey-Calame
1893: Family moves to Bern
1902/03: Attends the Bern art college
1904–06: Private student of Paul Klee. Singing lessons with Klee’s father Hans at Obstbergweg 6, Bern
1906-1911: Regularly in Paris: attends Académie de la Grande Chaumière, lessons with Lucien Simon; from 1908 attends Académie Ranson (teachers include Edouard Vuillard)
1911: Acquaintance and engagement to Victor Surbek in Paris
1914: Marriage and journey to Italy
1915-1931: Joint direction of a private art school
1928: Moves into shared apartment at Junkerngasse 51, Bern
1932: First trip to Southern Italy (Calabria, Sicily), travelling with Victor and Paul Zehnder
Ab 1932: Regular summer-autumn excursions to the Faulhorn in the Bernese Oberland prior to the 1940s
1936: Participation at the 20th Venice Biennale representing Switzerland with four works
1938: Exhibition at the Kunsthalle Bern along with Max Beckmann and others
nineteen-thirties: Trips to Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Bohemia and Vienna
1939: Mural for the Swiss national exhibition in Zurich with Victor and others
1944: Deployment with the voluntary women's aid service, notably helping refugees
1948/49: First trip to the USA, with Victor
1948-1954: Membership of the Swiss federal art commission
1948: Jury member for the Swiss Pavilion at the 24th Venice Biennale
1956: Unaccompanied visit to the USA; tours Virginia and Maryland with her US-based brother Albert
1960: Fourth and final stay in the USA, with Victor
1962: Publication of “Sixty Images”
1965: Further journey to Calabria after a long absence
1966: Shorter and lengthier trips to Malta
1970: Final solo exhibition is held at the Kunstsalon Wolfsberg in Zurich
1981: Dies on 17 May in Bern

Victor Surbek (1885–1975)
1885: Born on 1 November in Zäziwil, son of a country practitioner
1893: Father becomes director of the Inselspital (hospital): family moves to Bern
1902/03: Family summer house is built in Iseltwald
1904: Completes schooling in Bern; attends the college of applied arts and crafts in Munich (until 1906)
1907: Journey to Italy with Paul (Pablo) Zehnder and Willy Engel. Attends college of applied arts and crafts in Karlsruhe
1909–1911: First sojourns to Paris with Paul Zehnder and others. Takes courses at Académie de la Grande Chaumière. Meets Marguerite Frey in spring 1911 and gets engaged. Visit to the Touraine
1914: Marriage to Marguerite Frey. Apartment and studio at Schwarztorstrasse 61 in Bern. Several weeks spent in Italy
1915-1931: Joint direction of an art school at Gerechtigkeitsgasse 55 in Bern
1919: Construction of a studio next to their house in Iseltwald, working regularly there in spring, but mainly in summer
1920: Participation at the 12th Venice Biennale
1921: Journey to Tunisia with Paul Zehnder (Kairuan, Oases)
1922: Berlin, Denmark, Sweden, Prague and Vienna
1926: Participation at the 15th Venice Biennale
1928: Moves to apartment at Junkerngasse 51, Bern; visits Paris and Corsica (with Marguerite and Max Böhlen). Frescoes for the Kirchenfeld grammar school, Bern
1929: Exhibition with Max Fueter at the Kunsthalle Bern
1930: Fresco on the western façade of the Zytglogge tower in Bern
1932: First visit to Southern Italy (Calabria, Sicily), with Marguerite and Paul Zehnder
1933: Frescoes for the Pump Room of the Kurbrunnen Rheinfelden; exterior frescoes at “Le Roselier” house near Spiez Castle
1935: Solo exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Olten
1938: Stamps for “Landi”. Collaborates with Hans Erni for banknote design: the series is printed, but never circulated. Participation at the 21st Venice Biennale
1939: Large mural for the National Exhibition in Zurich in collaboration with Marguerite Frey-Surbek, Herold Howald from Bern and Martin Christ from Basel
1940: Solo exhibition at the Kunsthalle Bern
1944: Lithographs for Haller's “The Alps”
1948/49: Journey with Marguerite to New York and New England, travelling from Maine to Virginia
1950: Monograph published by NZN-publishing company in Zurich
1951: Fresco for the Tiefenau hospital Bern
1955: Frescoes for the Anna-Seiler house at the Inselspital (hospital) Bern
1957: Solo exhibition at the Kunsthalle Bern
1959: Meets René Gardi in Geneva and travels with him to North Cameroon
1960: Second visit to New York, with Marguerite
1966: Stays on Malta and Gozo
1974: The Surbeks are awarded the medal of the Burgergemeinde Bern
1975: Dies on 26 March in Bern

Contact

Dominik Tomasik, Collection & Archive, sammlung@schloss-spiez.ch