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FilterGustav Stettler
Gustav Stettler was born in Oberdiessbach in 1913. Following the death of his father in 1923, Stettler lived for four years (from 1925) with a farming family in Herblingen, in the Emmental region. Between 1930 and 1933 he completed an apprenticeship as a decorative artist and signwriter in Oberdiessbach. In 1934 he cycled via Bern, Biel and Délemont to Basel where he worked as a painter on building sites and attended evening classes at the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule [general vocational school] until 1939. In the winter term he also attended day courses. His teachers were Albrecht Mayer and Arnold Fiechter. In 1937, Stettler completed his training as a specialist commercial teacher. In 1938 he married Nelly Stähli, and a year later their son Peter was born. During the Second World War, he saw active service between 1939 and 1941 during the Grenzbesetzung [border occupation] of Switzerland. In 1943, he was employed as a drawing teacher in the arts and crafts department at the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule in Basel. That same year he won a competition organised by the Kunstkredit of the City of Basel, and at the same time the recognition of art historian and museum director Georg Schmidt, who supported him from then on. Stettler was a founding member of the artists’ group “Kreis 48” which was founded in 1948 at the initiative of Max Kämpf. In 1950, after 15 years in the old-town apartment in Spalenberg, he moved to an Atelierhaus [studio house] in Riehen. Stettler received the Gottfried Keller Foundation prize in 1961, and in 1963 he went on a six-month study trip through Flanders and Holland. Stettler died in Basel in 2005.
Gustav Stettler was born in Oberdiessbach in 1913. Following the death of his father in 1923, Stettler lived for four years (from 1925) with a farming family in Herblingen, in the Emmental region. Between 1930 and 1933 he completed an apprenticeship as a decorative artist and signwriter in Oberdiessbach. In 1934 he cycled via Bern, Biel and Délemont to Basel where he worked as a painter on building sites and attended evening classes at the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule [general vocational school] until 1939. In the winter term he also attended day courses. His teachers were Albrecht Mayer and Arnold Fiechter. In 1937, Stettler completed his training as a specialist commercial teacher. In 1938 he married Nelly Stähli, and a year later their son Peter was born. During the Second World War, he saw active service between 1939 and 1941 during the Grenzbesetzung [border occupation] of Switzerland. In 1943, he was employed as a drawing teacher in the arts and crafts department at the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule in Basel. That same year he won a competition organised by the Kunstkredit of the City of Basel, and at the same time the recognition of art historian and museum director Georg Schmidt, who supported him from then on. Stettler was a founding member of the artists’ group “Kreis 48” which was founded in 1948 at the initiative of Max Kämpf. In 1950, after 15 years in the old-town apartment in Spalenberg, he moved to an Atelierhaus [studio house] in Riehen. Stettler received the Gottfried Keller Foundation prize in 1961, and in 1963 he went on a six-month study trip through Flanders and Holland. Stettler died in Basel in 2005.