19.12.1942–?
Bettina Scholl-Sabbatini
Bettina Scholl-Sabbatini was born in 1942 in Esch-sur-Alzette into a sculptor’s family and studied in Florence and Paris. She works in bronze, stone and clay and made furnishings for churches and chapels in Luxembourg. Through the charitable organisation Soroptimist International she became connected with Rwanda, where she took part in projects after the Tutsi genocide; in 2010 Rwanda showed her works at the Venice Biennale of Architecture.
Biography
The first sculptor Bettina Sabbatini saw at work was, in all likelihood, her father. Aurelio Sabbatini (1909–1987) was a sculptor, and his daughter was born into his family on 19 December 1942 in Esch-sur-Alzette, in Luxembourg.
From 1963 to 1967 she studied sculpture and ceramics at the Istituto Statale d’Arte in Sesto Fiorentino, near Florence. She then went to Paris, to the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, where she studied painting and drawing; her teachers are said to have included Jérome and Brayer. Her materials vary: bronze, stone, clay and ceramic, and she also paints. A good part of her work is tied to church interiors. She made works for public spaces and for many churches and chapels in Luxembourg, including those in Bascharage, Bertrange, Dudelange, Lellig and Merl. Among the better-known pieces are a Way of the Cross (1990) at the church in Bertrange, a baptismal font in the Church of the Holy Spirit in the multicultural Brill quarter of Esch-sur-Alzette, the complete furnishing of the church in Lintgen (altar, ambo, baptismal font and tabernacle), and a Way of the Cross at the Church of St Willibrord in Niederkerschen. There are also secular works: the sculpture “Lube” beside the “Butzenhaus” in Bertrange, wall decorations for the children’s clinic in Luxembourg, and the monument “Hommage aux femmes vivant et travaillant à Esch” on Uelzechtsstrooss (2006). Her work has been shown in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Senegal and Spain.
In 1976 she won first prize for sculpture at the Biennale des Jeunes in Luxembourg, and in 1987 a special prize from the Fonds Culturel National Luxembourgeois.
From 2003 to 2005 Scholl-Sabbatini was vice-president of Soroptimist International Europa, an international women’s organisation. Through it she grew ever closer to Rwanda, where after the Tutsi genocide she coordinated development projects. She is also named among the initiators of the peace marathons in Kigali.
African traditional art made a strong impression on her. To my mind this shows: some of her sculptures carry echoes of African forms, and she herself links her journeys with the appearance of new ideas. In 2010 Rwanda included her works in its exhibition at the Venice Biennale of Architecture.
Profile notes