Biography from AskART:
| Born in Speicher, Switzerland, the son of an Alpine farmer, Conrad
Buff, by the age of forty, had an established reputation as an artist,
primarily realistic paintings that expressed his love of the American
Southwest.
He was apprenticed at age 14 to an uncle, a baker,
and confectioner, and baking became a hobby with him for the rest of
his life. He also learned the trade of lace designing and making,
which ultimately influenced his pointellist painting style, and which
was then a major trade in Switzerland. But he felt constrained
with having to copy patterns, and in the early 1900s went to Munich,
where he lived the heady life of a young man.
However, money
ran out, and at age 19, he came to America and took the first train
West. He was briefly on a Wisconsin ranch, working as a sheep
herder and then for ten years roamed the West doing odd jobs such as
cooking in cafes, bartending, and driving mules on a railroad
construction gang. He relieved the monotony by painting in his
spare time.
He also explored lithography and silk screen
painting and drew directly on stone or zinc plates. With his
wife, Mary Marsh, he wrote and illustrated two books: Dancing Cloud and Kobi.
In
1906, he moved to Los Angeles, and from 1907, painted in Arizona.
Maynard Dixon was a frequent sketching companion. Buff did a
number of large scale murals for banks, schools, and libraries, and
with well-known California artist, Edgar Payne, painted a 1000-foot
mural for a Chicago hotel.
Conrad Buff died in Laguna Hills, California on March 11, 1975.
Sources:
Edan Hughes, Artists in California, 1786-1940
Peggy and Harold Samuels, Encyclopedia of Artists of the American West
|
| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Conrad Buff is also mentioned in these AskART essays:
The California Art Club
California Painters
|