Conrad Buff

Conrad Buff (1886-1975).  Conrad Buff was born in Speicher, Switzerland, the son of an alpine farmer.  Conrad Buff, by the age of forty, had an established reputation as an artist painting primarily realistic paintings that expressed his love of the American Southwest.

Conrad Buff 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 pointillist painting style, and which was then a significant trade in Switzerland.  Conrad Buff 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, the money ran out, and at age 19, Conrad Buff came to America and took the first train West.  He was briefly on a Wisconsin ranch, working as a sheepherder, 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 silkscreen 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, he painted in Arizona.  Maynard Dixon was a frequent sketching companion.  Conard 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”
askART.com
Wikipedia

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