Alfred Bloesch

Alfred Bloesch (1890-1967) was born in Laufenburg on February 23, 1890 and died in Basel on November 9, 1967. His home town was Mörigen in the canton of Bern.

As a painter and teacher, he specialized in landscapes, portraits and figurative compositions. Alfred Bloesch was the son of Charles (Carl) Bloesch, a well-known illustrator of plants and insects. His father was 72 years old when Alfred was born and gave him his first lessons in drawing and painting. Alfred grew up with a brother in Laufenburg, where he attended the local schools.

Alfred Bloesch later obtained a drawing teacher’s diploma at the Basel trade school under the guidance of Albrecht Meyer. From 1913, he studied under Carl Johann Becker-Gundahl at the academy in Munich. He spent the entire First World War in Munich. He returned to Switzerland in 1919 and settled in Basel.

He became friends with Arnold Fiechter at the Gewerbeschule Basel. Bloesch undertook numerous study trips to France, particularly Paris, as well as to Italy. He initially worked as a drawing teacher at the Gewerbeschule, later and until 1955 at the Frauenarbeitsschule, where he taught drawing to dressmakers’ and milliners’ daughters.