Arthur Tigram Abeljanz
Born in Zurich (Switzerland) in 1885.
Died in Zurich (Switzerland) in 1970.
Swiss · Twentieth-century Swiss figurative sculpture, associated with architectural sculpture, public art and a classically oriented naturalism.
Arthur Abeljanz belongs to a generation of Swiss figurative sculptors who played an active role in integrating sculpture into Zurich’s architecture and public spaces. Working in the city from 1913 onwards, he developed a practice encompassing architectural sculpture, portrait busts, freestanding figures and funerary monuments.
His involvement in Swiss artistic life is documented through both exhibitions and professional associations. In 1915 he presented a galvanised plaster male bust at the Schweizerischer Kunstverein’s touring exhibition in Bern. Membership lists of the Society of Swiss Painters, Sculptors and Architects also record him as an active member of its Zurich section.
His exhibition activity extended beyond the local context. He participated in the Berliner Secession’s autumn exhibition in 1926 and in the sculpture section of the nineteenth Swiss National Art Exhibition, held at the Kunstmuseum Bern in 1936. These appearances place him within the networks of Swiss figurative sculpture between the two world wars.
Public commissions form the most visible part of his work. One of his figures was installed in a façade niche at the Kunsthaus Zürich, while reliefs for Zurich’s Bezirksgebäude represented Christ between the thieves and the Judgement of Solomon. He also created the panther fountain for the Witikon school.
In 1936 he completed Zwei weibliche Figuren, a bronze group on a Ticino gneiss base installed at Basteiplatz.
The City of Zurich’s art inventory records nine works by Abeljanz, including female heads, masks, a zodiac fountain relief and the Basteiplatz group. Together they reveal a sculptural language centred on the human figure, portraiture and clearly articulated volumes, conceived in close relation to architectural scale and the everyday experience of urban space.
Small bronzes are documented on the auction market. At Schuler, Liegender Akt, a signed example numbered 2/5 and measuring 40 × 17 × 10 cm, sold for CHF 400 in March 2021. In March 2026, the house also offered Weiblicher Torso, a monogrammed bronze 40 cm high, with an estimate of CHF 400–700.
These pieces complement the corpus of public commissions with examples of sculpture conceived on a more intimate scale.
