Oswald Pilloud

Born in Châtel-Saint-Denis in 1873, Pilloud attended Ferdinand Hodler's classes in Fribourg from 1896 to 1899 where he studied together with Raymond Buchs, Hiram Brülhart and Jean-Edouard de Castella. Encouraged by Hodler to pursue his career as a painter, he travelled to Paris where he studied at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, as well as the Académie Colarossi, and was influenced by les Nabis.

Having returned to Switzerland in 1905 he worked as a drawing teacher at the Technicum in Fribourg and had in particular Armand Niquille amongst his students. Two years later he joined the Fribourg section of the Swiss Society of Painters, Sculptors and Architects. Even if he painted a few still lifes and portraits, Oswald Pilloud remains famous for his landscapes inspired by Ferdinand Hodler.

Pilloud died in 1946 in Fribourg.

• Alpes fribourgeoises, vers 1917. Musée gruérien, Bulle
• La Veveyse, s.d.. Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Fribourg

• Paysagistes fribourgeois, Musée d'art et d'histoire, Fribourg, 1972
• Hodler und Freiburg. Die Mission des Künstlers. Hodler et Fribourg. La Mission de l'artiste, Ausstellung-Katalog, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Fribourg, 1981
• La tête des nôtres : portraits à Fribourg, 1850-2000, exhibition catalogue, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire de Fribourg, Fribourg, 2004
• Ph. Clerc, Un carrefour artistique, in: La Gruyère dans le miroir de son patrimoine, Une région en représentation, t.5, Editions Alphil, 2011, p. 14
• Th. Guisan, « Pilloud, pinceau châtelois », La Gruyère, 8 juin 2013, p. 20
• M. Durussel, « Le trop méconnu Oswald Pilloud », La Liberté, 24 août 2013, p. 30

• (fr) Official website
• "Oswald Pilloud". SIKART Lexicon on art in Switzerland.