The «Virtual Showcases» offer a glimpse of the extensive collection of artists’ fonds held in the Swiss Art Archives.A selection of photos, letters and diary entries convey an impression of the documents preserved by SIK-ISEA.
In the mid-1980s, the architect, painter, sculptor and teacher Hans Fischli (1909–1989) presented SIK-ISEA with the documents arising from his multi-facetted work. There are architect’s drawings, records of work, photographs and correspondence.
A collection of documents from the estate of Annemie Fontana (1925–2002) was gifted to the Swiss Art Archives at SIK-ISEA in 2015. More than 70 sketchbooks grant profound insights into how the artist worked. The fonds also contains correspondence with personal friends and institutions, a number of photographs and invitations, press reports and publications.
For over 40 years, Peter Friedli (1925–2012), a doctor and photographer in Bern, used his camera to record cultural and political life in Switzerland. In 2005 Friedli gave SIK-ISEA more than a thousand photography portraits of arzists, curators and gallery owners.