Longtime Ava fan donates vast amount of art and memorabilia

Any movie buff can easily appreciate the enchanting beauty of Ava Gardner, but artist Bert Pfeiffer made Ava his lifelong passion.

After first seeing Ava in the 1948 film "One Touch of Venus," Pfeiffer was hooked. In the film, Ava first appears as a statue of Venus the Goddess of Love and is brought to life with a kiss from a window dresser. The movie left quite an impression on the young Dutchman, who was enrolled in art school at the time.

Soon Pfeiffer began painting portraits of Ava, using photographs to memorize her facial features. The artist would spend the rest of his life creating his own interpretations Ava's likeness. He also collected a wealth of memorabilia featuring the late actress. Pfeiffer's work is now a part of the Ava Gardner Museum collection.

Following his death in 2001, Pfeiffer's family and friends followed his wishes of donating his collection to the Ava Gardner Museum.

About the artist

Born October 15, 1930 on the Island of Java in the Dutch East Indies to a German father and Dutch mother, most of Pfeiffer's childhood was spent on sugar plantations. His mother provided early education for him and his younger brother because they were far from any schools.

While a teenager during World War II, Bert along with his parents and brother spent time in different Japanese concentration camps. After he and his brother were released, they learned that their mother had died six weeks
earlier at her camp, but did find their father in yet another camp.

After the war, he enrolled at the Academy of Arts at the Hague, but soon developed the rare near-fatal illness that his mother had suffered before her death. At one point, the young artist became so paralyzed he could only slightly move his head and could not close his eyes or his lips, nor could he speak.

The illness caused his hands to be permanently paralyzed and drawn into fists. It was more than two years before he learned to write again. In order to continue with his artwork, the young man ultimately learned to paint by holding his brush with his fist.

Surviving on a pension for the handicapped, Bert earned additional income by painting portraits of residents of the little village of Panningen where he lived in his later years. One of his specialties was painting the bouquets of local brides. These detailed, lifelike flowers sometimes appeared in the portraits he painted of Miss Gardner as well. Upon his death, Pfeiffer had created nearly 50 large portraits of Ava – about one a year since he first saw her come to life in "One Touch of Venus."

He sold some of the portraits of Ava to other fans to make extra money, but with the 26 bought by Tom Banks and the seven sent this spring, a total of 33 of his paintings are now a part of the Ava Gardner Museum collection.

While Pfeiffer never met Ava, they did correspond a few times. Contained in the shipment from Holland were two typed letters from Ava and several autographed photos. Ava's indelible impression on the young art student from Holland will forever be appreciated by her fans.