COW PORTRAITS REVISITED

3 years ago, artist Grischka Bannwart came up with the idea to first exhibit her cow portraits in the Glasbodenraum (glass-floored room of Saanen’s Heimatwerk) then to auction them off and donate the proceeds to the Saanen Museum. But the pandemic hit and the idea was put on hold, until now!

Grischka painted the portraits for their former chalet in Schönried. “We only had oil paintings that didn’t suit the house and landscape up here, and since we had so much wall space, I decided to make a whole series that paid homage to the ancestry of the region's cows”. Like family portraits, the cows hung side by side on the wall for many years. Grischka has named each of them. “I like the way they make eye contact with you, it's as if you can see their character, she says, smiling. “I have named them all starting with the letter M: Mona Lisa, MuNi, Malinconia, Medea, Marguerite, Maya, Marylin, Madre y Mira, Messalina and Minerva. I hope all my paintings will get sold, as I think the funding of the museum is important. It is such a wonderful space, and it tells an important story of our lovely valley”. Coinciding with the temporary cow exhibition in the museum, it seems like now is the perfect time.

The ten cow portraits can be seen and bought from 5 August until 16 October in Museum Saanen, on the Dorfplatz in Saanen.

JEANETTE WICHMANN