Mary and Conrad Buff
| Mary and Conrad Buff | |
|---|---|
| Born | Mary Marsh April 10, 1890 Cincinnati, Ohio, USA Conrad Buff August 31, 1886 Speicher, Switzerland |
| Period | 1937–1968 (children's books) |
| Notable works | |
Mary Buff (April 10, 1890 – 1970) and Conrad Buff II (August 31, 1886 – March 11, 1975) were married creators of illustrated children's books. 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 or Newbery Medal. They had a profound impact on children's literature in the middle of the 20th century.
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, 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, 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.
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 and in Laguna Hills, California, where Conrad died on March 11, 1975.
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