1822 -1896 · Franco-Swiss academicism, idealized childhood and Salon painting

Young dreamy figures, graceful mythology, precise bouquets and precious finishes place Fritz Zuber-Bühler in the great Parisian academic tradition of the 19th century.

Fritz Zuber-Bühler was born in Le Locle, Switzerland, in 1822. While still a teenager, he left for Paris, where he first received advice from Louis Grosclaude before joining the School of Fine Arts. In the studio of François-Édouard Picot, heir to neoclassicism, he learned the primacy of drawing, balanced composition and meticulous finishing which characterized academic painting. Study stays in Italy, and perhaps in Germany, completed this training through the observation of old masters. Study stays in Italy, and perhaps in Germany, completed this training through the observation of old masters. Study stays in Italy, and perhaps in Germany, completed this training through the observation of old masters. A long-term presence in Paris, Zuber-Bühler began at the Salon of 1850 with several religious, mythological subjects and portraits. He then exhibited there almost without interruption until 1891, presenting oils, drawings, pastels and watercolors. Her repertoire is varied, but her reputation is based above all on female and childish figures treated with ideal elegance. The cherry thieves transform childish playfulness into a delicately regulated narrative scene. Girl with a crown and The Spirit of the Morning combine porcelain complexion, carefully described fabrics, flowers and diffused light. In Birth of Venus, the mythological nude allows her to take up a major theme of the Salon while favoring grace and harmony. This painting responds to the international taste of the Second Empire and the Third Republic for readable, refined and beauty technically impeccable. Zuber-Bühler also exhibits in the United States, notably at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Died in Paris in 1896, he left a work where the academic ideal is extended by the tenderness of the story and the tactile pleasure of the subjects. The "Fritz Zuber-Bühler" selection notably compares Girl with a Crown and The Spirit of the Morning. His reading favors atmosphere.

Zuber-Bühler transforms the academic ideal into an intimate scene: the drawing orders the figure, while the flower, the fabric and the gaze soften its perfection.