Conrad Buff II
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Mary Buff (April 10, 1890 – 1970) and Conrad Buff II (August 31, 1886 – March 11, 1975) were married creators of illustrated
children's books A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''chi ...
. Between 1937 and 1968, they collaborated on both text and illustrations to produce 14 books; four times they were a runner-up for the
Caldecott Medal The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service ...
or
Newbery Medal The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished contr ...
. They had a profound impact on children's literature in the middle of the 20th century.


Conrad Buff

Conrad Buff II was born in the village of Speicher, Switzerland. Buff followed in his father's footsteps and grew interested in sketching and art at an early age. At the age of 14 in 1900, Buff enrolled in the School of Arts and Crafts located close to home in St. Gallen. By 1903 Buff was running out of money and felt that art school was not for him; he made the decision to leave Switzerland and head to America by 1904 in hopes of a more inspiring lifestyle. As Buff was traveling West through America, he went through a number of different jobs, including
painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...
, shepherding, washing dishes, and baking. By 1907, Conrad Buff had made it to Los Angeles with no assets to his name and began to make an income through painting houses. At that time, Buff was able to purchase a piece of land and continued to paint in his free time. Between 1910 and 1913, he attended the
Art Students League of Los Angeles Art Students League of Los Angeles was a modernist painting school that operated in Los Angeles, California from 1906 to 1953. Among its students were painters Nicholas P. Brigante, Mabel Alvarez, Herman Cherry, Stanton Macdonald-Wright and Rex S ...
, but again he was not fulfilled with the institution. He then attended night classes at Los Angeles High School where he painted a series of many small oil portraits that were never shown publicly but were unlike anything that was seen at the time. At this time, Buff started to continue painting many landscape paintings which were very popular at this time in
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
. In the 1920s, Buff's art became admired and he began winning many prizes for his work. In 1922, Conrad Buff was married to Mary Jordan Marsh, with whom he later had two sons. Mary and Conrad Buff together wrote and illustrated children's books from 1937 to 1968. Mary died in 1970. The Buffs lived in
Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...
and in
Laguna Hills, California Laguna Hills (; ''laguna'' being ) is a city in southern Orange County, California, United States. Its name refers to its proximity to Laguna Canyon and the much older Laguna Beach. Other newer cities nearby—Laguna Niguel and Laguna Woods— ...
, where Conrad died on March 11, 1975.


Mary Buff

Mary Buff, formerly known as Mary Marsh, was born in
Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
on April 10, 1890. Mary had an early interest in
arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creativity, creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive ...
and
poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...
but only continued to study art. She studied at the
Chicago Academy of Fine Arts The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum a ...
and at the
Cincinnati Art Academy The Art Academy of Cincinnati is a private college of art and design in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded as the McMicken School of Design in 1869, and was a department of the University of Cincinnati, and later in 1887, became the Art Academy ...
and received her bachelor's degree in Kansas at Bethany College. Mary then lived in
Albion, Idaho Albion is a city in Cassia County, Idaho, United States. It is part of the Burley, Idaho Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 234 at the 2020 census. Albion was the county seat of Cassia County from 1879 to 1918. Albion is one o ...
and in the 1920s settled in Los Angeles. In 1922 she married Conrad Buff. Mary was the assistant curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Her income was large enough to allow her husband, Conrad Buff, to paint full-time. After marrying Conrad Buff, Mary gave up her pursuit of painting to write children's books with him. She died in 1970.


Career

Conrad Buff's earliest artwork traces back to small landscape oil paintings that were sold for 50 cents each in 1905. Throughout the 1910s, Buff began to use a cross-hatching technique, similar to the broken brush stroke. His paintings became abstract; some of the painting was defined while other areas would be rough and not as detailed. His style was different from other landscape painters as he did not paint the settings as accurately and his paintings were not identical to the landscape that he was interpreting. From the 1920s to the 1930s Buff began painting
murals A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spanish ...
. These were murals of architecture of buildings and large spaces. During this time some of the murals he produces were the Southern California Edison Company building in Los Angeles, the First National Bank of Phoenix, the William Penn Hotel in Whittier, and the Guarantee Building and Loan Association in Los Angeles. In the 1930s, Buff painted several
lithographs Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...
, copies of other paintings. His work won many awards in exhibitions. By 1936, Conrad Buff started illustrating children's books with his wife Mary Buff. Conrad Buff continued illustrating until 1968, creating several books during this time period.
Mary Buff was a teacher in Montana, Idaho, and Hollywood prior to being an author. She was also an artist and the assistant curator at the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 1961 ...
when she married Conrad Buff in 1922. In 1936, Mary Buff began writing books and published 14 books with her husband.


Influences

The body of work produced by Mary and Conrad Buff has nature as a recurrent theme. Stories in the books they have written and illustrated, such as ''Dash & Dart'' and ''Forest Folk'', feature nature as the primary focus. Numerous oil paintings by Conrad Buff are of landscapes, of which include a notable landscape portrait titled "Canyon Land." This painting was sold at auction for $77,000 in 2003. The landscape portraits created by Buff where distinct from those of his peers, as he used a cross-hatching technique along with pointillist style.


Notable works

Mary and Conrad Buff worked together to publish 14 books in total. Mary was the story teller and mainly wrote the stories where Conrad used his creative hand to illustrate the books. Their second Switzerland book '' The Apple and the Arrow'' (1951) is a version of the legend of
William Tell William Tell (, ; ; ; ) is a legendary folk hero of Switzerland. He is known for shooting an apple off his son's head. According to the legend, Tell was an expert mountain climber and marksman with a crossbow who assassinated Albrecht Gessler, ...
. It is suggested for Grade 4 readers and used in schools throughout Canada today. It was a Newbery runner-up in 1952.


Books by Mary and Conrad Buff

The Buffs collaborated on 14 titles and a revised edition of their first book. The Library of Congress catalog distinguishes their contributions for the first two books only. * ''Dancing Cloud: the Navajo boy'' (The Viking Press, 1937), by Mary Marsh Buff with lithographs by Conrad Buff * ''Kobi, a boy of Switzerland'' (Viking, 1939), by Mary Marsh Buff and Conrad Buff; lithographs by Conrad Buff * ''Dash & Dart'' (Viking, 1942), by Mary and Conrad Buff * '' Big Tree'' (Viking, 1946) * ''Peter's Pinto, a story of Utah'' (Viking, 1949) * '' The Apple and the Arrow'' (Houghton Mifflin, 1951) — a version of the
William Tell William Tell (, ; ; ; ) is a legendary folk hero of Switzerland. He is known for shooting an apple off his son's head. According to the legend, Tell was an expert mountain climber and marksman with a crossbow who assassinated Albrecht Gessler, ...
legend * '' Magic Maize'' (Houghton Mifflin, 1953) * ''Hurry, Skurry, & Flurry'' (Viking, 1954) * ''Hah-nee to the cliff dwellers'' (HM, 1956) * ''Dancing Cloud, the Navajo boy'' (Viking, 1957), revised edition with new illustrations by Conrad Buff * ''Elf Owl'' (Viking, 1958) * ''Trix and'' Vix (HM, 1960) * ''Forest folk'' (Viking, 1962) * ''Kemi, an Indian boy before the white man came'' (Los Angeles: Ward Ritchie Press, 1966) * ''Colorado, river of mystery'' (Ritchie, 1968)


Cultural impact

Mary and Conrad Buff have been recognized as significant contributors to American children's literature. Several times they were among the runners-up for a
Caldecott Medal The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service ...
or a
Newbery Medal The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished contr ...
from the professional librarians, the most prestigious American children's book awards. The Caldecott Medal recognizes the illustrator of the previous year's "most distinguished American picture book for children"; they were runners-up for ''Dash and Dart'' in 1943. The Newbery Medal recognizes the writer of the "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children"; the Buffs were runners-up for ''Big Tree'' in 1947, ''The Apple and the Arrow'' in 1952, and ''Magic Maize'' in 1954. Conrad Buff left his mark on more than just the world of children's literature, as he was commissioned to paint architectural murals in Los Angeles and Phoenix.


Archival collections

When the
de Grummond Children's Literature Collection The McCain Library and Archives is the chief reserve library for The University of Southern Mississippi. It houses the items in Southern Mississippi's possession that are not available for checkout. Besides being the archives, the building also ...
was established at Southern Mississippi in 1966, the Buffs contributed a small collection. Their primary archive is at the
University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...
.


See also


Notes


References


External links


Guide to the Mary and Conrad Buff Children's Book Materials
— at the Special Collections and Archives of ''The UC Irvine Libraries''.
Conrad Buff.com
— ''at George Stern Fine Arts''.
LoC.gov: ''The Art & Life of Conrad Buff''
— ''(George Stern Fine Arts, 2000), at the Library of Congress-LoC''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Buff, Mary And Conrad American children's writers 20th-century American illustrators Art duos Writing duos Married couples Artists from Los Angeles Writers from Los Angeles Place of death missing Writers from Pasadena, California People from Laguna Hills, California Art Students League of Los Angeles people