Max Bachofen 1903-1987

Bachofen was born in Turbenthal, near Gossau, in the Swiss canton of Zurich, and came to the United States in 1910 to live in Alliance, Ohio.  After graduating from high school there, he studied five years at the Cleveland School of Art where he was a student of Paul Bough Travis.  Bachofen sketched in Mexico in 1929 and about the same time began spending winters in Texas, especially in Castroville, and summers in Alliance.  He was a student of Jose Arpa and Wilson K. Nixon in San Antonio.  During the Great Depression, Bachofen sometimes worked as a house painter and was in the Civilian Conservation Corps in Texas and Alaska; he painted one work in Ohio for the Public Works of Art Project.  Bachofen eventually settled in Buda, Texas, and then in Austin.  His picturesque beard landed him small roles in a number of motion pictures.  Bachofen died in Hays County.
Immigrating with his family to the
United States from Switzerland in 1910 when he was age seven, Max
Bachofen lived in Alliance, Ohio where he graduated from high school. He
studied at the Cleveland School of Art with Paul Bough Travis and then
traveled to Mexico where he did painting. In 1929, he began spending
winters in Texas in Castroville and Alliance, and he was a student in
San Antonio with Jose Arpa and Wilson Nixon. During the Depression, he
worked as a house painter. With the Civilian Conservation Corps, he
worked in Texas and Alaska, and with the Public Works Project, painted
in Ohio.

He settled first in Buda, Texas and then Austin. "His
picturesque beard landed him small roles in a number of motion
pictures." (21)

Exhibitions included the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy and the Witte Memorial Museum in San Antonio.