Gottlieb Soland (1928-2011)

Gottlieb Soland was born in Aarau, Switzerland in 1928, and grew up in nearby Turgi. He began an apprenticeship as a sculptor, which was disrupted by World War II and the death of his mentor in 1943.

In 1944, he moved to Zurich, enrolling at the School of Applied Arts. There, he studied with Max and Ernst Gubler, Johannes Itten, and Alfred Willimann.

From 1945 to 1949, he apprenticed as a graphic designer in the Zurich atelier of the influential Swiss artist Gottfried Honegger and his wife, illustrator Warja Lavater. Following this apprenticeship, he worked for a year in the Netherlands before returning to Zurich, where he ran his own graphics studio until 1955.

That year he married Heidi Schatzmann, and after leaving Zurich, the family spent the next 15 years living and working in Reiden and Brione sopra Minusio.

Soland would spend the next three decades living and working between Zurich and Reiden, exhibiting frequently around Switzerland. After the death of his wife in 2008, he took up residence in the Feldheim Regional Retirement and Care Center in Reiden. The Feldheim Foundation was formed in 2009, and before his death, Soland was able to arrange for the Foundation to assume management of the works in his estate. Today, the Foundation continues to serve as steward of Soland's oeuvre, working to promote his legacy as an important member of the Swiss post-war historical canon.