Coghuf
Born in 1905.
Died in 1976.
Initially trained in a workshop trade, he apprenticed as a locksmith / artistic ironworker in Basel from 1920 to 1924, while also studying sculpture with Louis Weber. Early works dated 1926 bear the signature Ernst Stocker, a document attesting to the earlier use of his original surname. During a stay in Paris in 1931–1932, he attended classes at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, information that supplements the documented account of his training in the visual arts.
In 1934, he founded the artists’ group BBZ 8, a collective initiative explicitly mentioned by the sources.
Among his documented projects is the mosaic Kennen und erkennen, on which he worked from 1955 to 1969 and which is located on one of the buildings of the University of Basel. In 1966–1967, he also created the reliefs for the Bon-Pasteur church in Altstätten, a religious and architectural intervention explicitly dated in the documentation.
As regards his private life, the sources indicate that he married Hedwige Rudin in 1939 and had descendants said to include ten children. A recent publication, Coghuf — La peinture au galop (Yves Guignard), published by Infolio in 2023, provides a modern synthesis of his career and work.
