Emil Pfeifer - a forgotten master of Swiss fine art

Two aspects of the Swiss painter Emil Pfeifer (1913 - 1978) immediately catch the eye: his remarkable versatility and the fact that he is still almost completely unknown. This combination makes him a fascinating discovery for art historians.

Emil Pfeifer left behind an impressive oeuvre of several hundred works executed in a wide variety of techniques and styles. To date, around 400 works of his oeuvre have been recorded in a database. His oeuvre includes oil paintings, watercolors, pastel and oil pastel drawings, pencil drawings as well as red and green pencil drawings. In addition, he experimented with lithographs, tempera and pen and ink drawings - a diversity that is hard to find in Swiss art history. His talent and exceptional technical skill, as well as his drive for perfection in every medium, are reflected in all his works and make the painter unique. 

The creative approaches of the Swiss fine art painter, Emil Pfeifer, were just as varied as his techniques. He worked from live models, in the wild, with photographic templates or impressions stored in his memory. His methods resulted in an impressive thematic spectrum: from portraits and nude studies to landscapes and seascapes to still lifes with flowers and animals. His works are characterized by a clear dedication to beauty and aesthetics, whereby he consciously distanced himself from contemporary trends in painting. His works are documents of their time and are characterized by a timeless elegance and often a dramatic tension.

For art historians, Emil Pfeifer's work offers an exciting challenge: to discover a fine art painter whose work represents a remarkable symbiosis of technical brilliance, thematic diversity and personal devotion. His genre paintings, idyllic nature scenes, dramatic landscapes and seascapes, portraits and nudes invite a deeper examination and open up new perspectives on 20th century Swiss art with Emil Pfeifer.

Emil Pfeifer is a painter who, as an authentic voice of his time, deserves to be lifted out of oblivion and established in the art world.