Buff, Conrad (1886-1975).

Canyon Land by Conrad Buff (1886-1975) 34" x 51", Oil/Masonite, Signed Est.: $7,000 - $9,000 Sold by John Moran Auctioneers for $77,000 on 11/18/2003 ARTIST WORLD RECORD

Painter, lithographer, illustrator, muralist.

Born in Speicher, Switzerland on Jan. 15, 1886. Buff was trained as a lace designer at the School of Arts & Crafts in St Gallen, Switzerland and at age 18 studied briefly in Munich.

He immigrated to the U.S. in 1905 and, since he spoke no English, moved to Wisconsin where there was a large Swiss population. There he worked as a sheep herder before moving to Los Angeles in 1906.

While supporting himself as a house painter, he made sketching trips into the deserts of Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona, and in leisure began painting desert landscapes.

He developed a lifelong friendship with Maynard Dixon who often accompanied him on these sketching trips.

In 1922 he married Mary Marsh who was an artist and assistant curator at the LACMA. She gave up painting to write children’s books which her husband illustrated.

A self-taught artist, he used a pointillist technique to create stark mountain and desert landscapes.

Buff was a resident of Pasadena and Laguna Hills where he died on March 11, 1975.

His work won many awards in Southern California exhibitions.

Member: Calif. Art Club. Exhibited: LACMA, 1923, 1929, 1937 (solos); Stendahl Galleries, 1927; Oakland Art Gallery, 1932; GGIE, 1939. Works held: MM; CPLH; LACMA; NMAA; British Museum; LA Public Library; Barlow Medical Library, LA; San Diego Museum; Detroit Inst. of Art; Boston Museum. Murals: William Penn Hotel, Whittier, CA; Guarantee Building and Loan Ass’n LA (done in collaboration with Maynard Dixon); Phoenix Nat’l Bank; Mormon Church, Huntington Park; Lobby, So. Calif. Edison Co. Bldg., LA. AAA 1929-33; Contemporary American Painting; CA&A; Fld; SCA; Sam; Har; AAW; WWAA 1936-62; So. Calif. Artists, 1890-1940.