Painter, lithographer, illustrator, muralist. Born in Speicher, Switzerland on January 15, 1886. Buff was trained as a lace designer at the school of Arts and Crafts in St. Gallen, Switzerland and at age 18 studied briefly in Munich. He emigrated to the United States in 1905 and since he spoke no English, moved to Wisconsin where there was a large Swiss population. There he worked as a sheep herder before moving to Los Angeles in 1906. While supporting himself as a house painter, he regularly made sketching trips into the deserts of Utah, New Mesico, and Arizona, and in his spare time began painting desert landscapes. He developed a lifelong friendship with Maynard Dixon who often accompined him on these sketching trips. In 1922 he married Mary Marsh who was an artist. She gave up apinting to write children's books which her husband illustrated. He was self taught and is known for his stark mountain and desert landscapes executed using a pointillist technique. Buff was a resident of Pasadena and Laguna Hills where he died on March 11, 1975.

Edan Hughes. (1986) Artists in California, 1786-1940. California: Hughes Publishing Company