Suzanne Baumann

Swiss artist. Born in Zurich to Swiss silk manufacturer Friedrich Baumann and Danish artist Else Lilly Hansen (1942). Grew up at Kilchberg on Lake Zurich (1942–58). Studied at Manchester Regional College of Art and the Royal College of Art in London (1958–60), under Robert Jacobson at the Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi in Copenhagen (1960–61) and at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich (1962–63). Lived with Sylvia Valentin, Philipp Schibig, Ernst Schurtenberger and other artists in Lucerne, where she worked at an experimental studio and met Meret Oppenheim, May Fasnacht and Ester Altorfer (1963–66). Studied religious music and art at the Istituto Svizzero in Rome (1964–65). Moved to Berne (1966), where she worked as assistant to Meret Oppenheim (1966–69). Settled in Marfeldingen near Berne (1969), where she restored a two-hundred year-old farmhouse (1970–80). Founded the Baumann and Fassnacht Design and Advertising Agency for holding international medical congresses and making scientific designs for university institutes (1970). Developed the concept of Synopsism (1970s). Travelled across North and South America, Africa and India (1984). Conceived a project called the Small World Exhibition (1984). Founded the Isis Voice Agency (1985) and organised concerts starring Nina Simone, James Brown, Ray Charles and Solomon Burke (1980s). Wrote short stories (1986–89) and published a collection called Macht und Geheimnis with a foreword by Nina Simone (1989). Won the patronage of Federico Mayor Zaragoza, director-general of UNESCO (1994). Initiated the first exhibition of the works of Marc Chagall in Belarus (1997) and marked the 120th anniversary of the birth of Kazimir Malevich in Vitebsk (1998). Held exhibitions in Switzerland, Denmark and Italy (1964–65) and a major one-woman show at the Aargauer Kunsthaus in Aarau (1992) and the Kunstmuseum des Kantons Thurgau in Kartause Ittingen (1992–93). Showed versions of the Small World Exhibition at the Galerie Toni Gerber in Berne (1992), Institut für moderne Kunst in Nuremberg (1993), New Earth Global Fair of Ecology and Technology in Osaka (1996), Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2003) and the Belarus National Museum of History and Culture in Minsk (2003–04).