Gordon Edward Pfeiffer was born in Quebec City in 1899. 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 for two summers.
Later life
Pfeiffer married Dorothy Pfeiffer, a musician and former art critic for the Montreal Gazette, 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.
Pfeiffer would exhibit his works Spring Exhibitions of the Art Association of Montreal 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 to $600.00 for Barley harvest, 1942. The last painting he would exhibit at the Spring Exhibitions, Summer, Baie des Chaleurs had an asking price of $300.00.
Cotton Aimers' bibliography and catalogue raisonnéGordon 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.
Dr. Max Stern of the landmark Dominion Gallery of Fine Art 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, Industrial Acceptance Corporation, Kilborn Engineering and Molson Brewery started acquiring his works for their boardrooms. Andrew Sidney Dawes purchased ten of his paintings and presented them to McGill University. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts also owns one of his paintings.
Other notable patrons
Jeannine Bombardier, daughter of Bombardier Inc. founder Joseph-Armand Bombardier, 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 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.
