Biography – Swiss Artist Robert S. Gessner

Collection: Robert S. Gessner

Robert Salomon Gessner

(Zurich 1908 – 1982 Locarno)

Swiss artist Rob S. Gessner was born into a distinguished and well known Zurich family whose direct ancestors included the Zurich-born poet and painter Salomon Gessner (1730-1788).

From 1925 to 1927 Gessner studied to be a window decorator at the department store Jemoli, and subsequently entered Zurich’s school of applied arts. His teachers there inclued Karl Hügin, Otto Meyer-Amden and Ernst Gubler. During the 1940s he enjoyed a growing success as an advertising illustrator, even as he continued to work as an independent artist, creating paintings, engravings and collages. Key influences on Gessner’s work included Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Wassily Kandinsky und Paul Klee.

Signed Rob S. Gessner, 1950
Numbered 5/6 – Dedicated to the Swiss Artist Gotffried Honegger