Carl-Albert Angst

Carl-Albert Angst was the son of a cabinetmaker. In 1889-94, he attended the École des Arts Industriels Genève. From 1896 he lived in Paris. There he first worked at the Salon of the patroness and collector Comtesse de Béarn (1869-1939), then self-employed. In 1911, he returned to Genève and became a professor of decorative composition at the École des Arts Industriels. From 1913 he worked only as a freelancer.

At first, Angst created decorative artworks oriented to Art Nouveau, such as furniture. His free artistic work (drawings, sculpture in stone, wood, clay, and bronze), which started around 1903, was initially also influenced by Art Nouveau, which was soon replaced by Auguste Rodin (1840-1917). His symbolic and psychological moments remained present in Angst’s later work, which sometimes also drew on Greek and Egyptian traditions. In addition to numerous architectural works and monuments, he created free sculptures, tombs, medallions, and many portraits, as well as carved furniture, paperweights, etc. In 1987, many of his works burned in the depot of the Musée d’art et d’histoire in Genève.