Gordon Edward Pfeiffer (October 10, 1899 in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

– May 25, 1983 in

Rosemère Rosemère is an affluent suburb of Montreal, in southwestern Quebec, Canada on the north shore of the Rivière des Mille Îles in the Thérèse-De Blainville Regional County Municipality. The town is noted for its green look, due to the high de ...

) was a Canadian master dyer and painter.

Biography

Early life

Gordon Edward Pfeiffer was born in 1899 in

. He was the child of Adolph Pfeiffer and Lily Wright. He attended Misses Bonhams' school, the Boys High School, Stanstead Wesleyan College and studied chemistry and economics at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

for two summers.

Later life

Pfeiffer married Dorothy Pfeiffer (born Douglas Young), a musician and former art critic for the

Montreal Gazette The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...

, in June 1925 after a short courtship. It is unclear how many children Pfeiffer had, in Aimers's biography it is mentioned "Pfeiffer now had a family of six to support" with Gordon Jr., Douglas, Helen and Bruce being named in the book.

Exhibitions

Spring Exhibitions at the Art Association of Montreal

Pfeiffer would exhibit his works Spring Exhibitions of the Art Association of Montreal (now

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA; french: Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, MBAM) is an art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest art museum in Canada by gallery space. The museum is located on the historic Golden Square ...

) from 1928 to 1954. In McMann's catalogue of paintings exhibited by Pfeiffer his asking price for his works range from $50.00 for ''Pumpkin Season'', 1933 ($882.64 in 2016 dollars adjusted for inflation) to $600.00 for ''Barley Harvest'', 1942 ($8,765.52 in 2016 dollars). The last painting he would exhibit at the Spring Exhibitions, ''Summer, Baie des Chaleurs'' had an asking price of $300.00 ($2,704.26 in 2016 dollars).

Group exhibitions

*Royal Canadian Academy : 1928 to 1951. *Galerie Pauline Johnson, Montreal : 1979 to 1981.

Solo exhibitions

*Chateau Frontenac, Quebec : 1930 to 1933, 1935 to 1937, 1948. *Galerie Colbert, Montreal : 1977 to 1980.

Notable patrons

Cotton Aimers' bibliography and catalogue raisonné ''Gordon E. Pfeiffer'' in collaboration with the painter himself documents a rich source of art dealers and patrons that have supported Pfeiffer throughout his career.

Corinne "Coco" Dupuis-Maillet

Dupuis-Maillet is described as a fellow-artist that helped Pfeiffer break into the Montreal artistic community as he moved to Westmount in the mid-Forties. She would take him under her wings and purchase dozens of his paintings and make the introductions he needed to get noticed.

Max Stern (Dominion Gallery of Fine Art)

Dr. Max Stern of the landmark Dominion Gallery of Fine Art (1941–2000) in Montreal was one Pfeiffer's earliest supporters during the phase of his life when he started painting landscapes. In the Max Stern Collection, a collection of items bequested at Dr. Stern's death to a joint collaborative effort between Concordia University and McGill University is a copy of Pfeiffer's biography and catalogue raisonné entitled ''Gordon E. Pfeiffer'' by Cotton Aimers. It contained a business card laid in of Dr. W. M. Pfeiffer. It is unclear what relation Dr. W. M. Pfeiffer had to Gordon Pfeiffer.

Major Institutions and Corporations

Cotton Aimers documents that as Pfeiffer established himself as an artist in the Sixties, large corporations such as

Hydro-Québec Hydro-Québec is a public utility that manages the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in the Canadian province of Quebec, as well as the export of power to portions of the Northeast United States. It was established by the ...

, Industrial Acceptance Corporation, Kilborn Engineering (now a part of

SNC-Lavalin SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. is a Canadian company based in Montreal that provides engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services to various industries, including mining and metallurgy, oil and gas, environment and water, infrastructure, a ...

) and

Molson Brewery The Molson Brewery is a Canadian based brewery company based in Montreal which was established in 1786 by the Molson family. In 2005, Molson merged with the Adolph Coors Company to become Molson Coors. Molson Coors maintains some of its Can ...

(now Molson-Coors) started acquiring his works for their boardrooms. Andrew Sidney Dawes purchased ten of his paintings and presented them to

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

. The

also owns one of his paintings.

Other notable patrons

*Jeannine Bombardier, daughter of Bombardier Inc. founder

Joseph-Armand Bombardier Joseph-Armand Bombardier (; April 16, 1907 – February 18, 1964) was a Canadian inventor and businessman who was the founder of Bombardier. His most famous invention was the snowmobile. Biography Born in Valcourt, Quebec, Joseph-Armand Bombar ...

, is listed as acquiring "Les Eaux Mortes, 1956". *Donald S. Bartlett, Andrew Sidney Dawes, and E. Dzieduszycki are listed as having acquired multiple paintings of Pfeiffer.

Other notable art galleries

*Art dealer William Robinson Watson of Watson Art Galleries (1911–1958) was one of Pfeiffer's earliest patrons. He would sell his artwork at his gallery and in Aimers' catalogue raisonné list one of Pfeiffer's earlier works in his private collection at the time of publishing. *Walter Klinkhoff Gallery (now Alan Klinkhoff Gallery) *Continental galleries *Scotts Art Gallery *Eaton's Fine Art Gallery *Galerie Colbert *Continental Gallery

References

Sources

*Aimers, Cotton. ''Gordon E. Pfeiffer''. Montreal: Stanke, 1981. *McMann, Evelyn de R. ''Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, formerly Arts Association of Montreal: Spring Exhibitions 1880–1970''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1988. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pfeiffer, Gordon 1899 births 1983 deaths Artists from Quebec City Canadian male painters 20th-century Canadian male artists 20th-century Canadian painters