the Pfeiffer Pfiles Presents....the Art Work of Artist Fred Pfeiffer

Fred Pfeiffer was an American Artist
He worked as an Illustrator out of N.Y.N.Y. and
L.A. CA. in the late 60's thru the 70's and into the 80's

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Fred Pfeiffer Jamaica Inn 1970

One of several Daphne du Maurier novels Fred would do the cover for.
From 1970 another early Pfeiffer. Also... another cover where Fred"s
signature is easy to spot.

11 comments:

Rob Weilert said...

Oh yes, that's a Pfeiffer cover allright! Even without a signature this one could be easily identified as coming from Fred's brush. I've never seen this cover before, so it's a real treat for me. Thanks a heap for posting it.

Fred Pfeiffer Artist said...

Rob is the one who told me to check the Daphne Du Maurier books. And I did and found quite a few under the Pocket imprint. This one I found only this year. And I also saw it again at another bookstore in the same week!

The serving wench looks quite fine to me.

Courtney

Stan Shaw said...

His brushes! I always though he used a palette knife. But if I remember correctly Bob Larkin said he used big flat brushes.

cardstuntman said...

I see areas on some of his pieces that look like he used a knife. Where the color ended with a hard straight line. That sweet blending detail came from several small brushes.

Looks like he thinned the paint out a lot and used a big brush to create some of those back grounds he did.
Thoughts?

Scotty

Rob Weilert said...

Although he did use brushes, I was just speaking figuratively in my comment, Stan, but while we're on the subject, let me tell you what Fred himself told me back in '73 about the "tools" he used.

Fred would use palette knives, razor blades, a wide assortment of flat plastic and cardboard pieces which he himself would carefully cut from easy-to-come-by disposables such as milk and juice containers, etc....even materials such as stiff fabrics and screens like you would use on a screened-in porch.

When I asked him WHY he used such items as cut plastic, he replied that he could "shape" the pieces in ways that more easily facilitated the application of paint for specific needs...AND he could easily make custom contours to the edges of the plastic, which he said enabled him to apply several colors simultaneously in a way that resulted in effects he couldn't get with a brush or knife.

Did you also know that he made many of his own paints from scratch, the way the old masters did centuries ago? That's what he told me, although I strongly suspect that in the interest of time (critical to any commercial artist) he relied more often on readily available art materials. Nevertheless, he told me that he was a strong proponent of the old craft of making paints from scratch.

cardstuntman said...

Looking at many of Fred pieces I was sure that something was going on with non absorbent materials. This is a great post Rob and will help me try and understand some things that are going on in Fred's art a little better. Thanks for this post. This is exactly the kind of thing I was hoping someone would know. Please share more of your conversations with Fred. Thanks again, very much
Scotty

cardstuntman said...

I bet Fred would be a fan of Roger Gamblin paints. they are made old school and are my favorite paints. In my opinion they blow all others out of the water. Worth every dime it takes to get a tube.

Scotty

Rob Weilert said...

Fred actually described to me the process of making paints from scratch...something about using raw eggs, etc... but I don't recall the process beyond his mention of those eggs. I guess because it didn't sound very interesting to me at the time.

cardstuntman said...

that's called egg tempera painting. Robert McGinnis also uses this technique.

Fred Pfeiffer Artist said...

Why, Mr. West, you must have watched that McGinnis dvd that I sent you!

cardstuntman said...

I smell "the Last Rose of Summer" often.

LOL

sp