Joseph R. Eger

Joseph Eger was a notable painter, miniaturist, and teacher who lived and exhibited in Buffalo throughout his life. His work primarily consisted of impressionist landscapes and cityscapes in oils and watercolor. Born August 29, 1919, in Buffalo, Eger began drawing at a young age and took art classes at the Buffalo Museum of Science. After graduating from St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute in 1938, he studied for two years at the Art Institute of Buffalo under artists Edwin Dickenson and William Rowe. In subsequent years he studied privately under various artists including Richard Sigafoos and Laszlo Szabo. His work was also critiqued by Charles Burchfield.

Throughout the 1950s, Eger would spend summers in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where he painted many of his works. He exhibited his work throughout the Buffalo region over the course of his career and was a member of various professional organizations such as the Buffalo Society of Artists, the Art Institute of Buffalo, and the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy. He was featured in group shows at the Buffalo Society of Artists and the Art Institute of Buffalo. His works were also included in shows at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Fineline Gallery Art and Antiques (Buffalo), Will Faller Fine Art and Antiques (East Aurora, New York), the Miniature Art Society of Western New York, the Burchfield Penney Art Center, and Daemen College.

In 2003 he became a charter member of the short-lived Miniature Art Society of Western New York. The group was formed after the realization that a professional organization for miniature artists did not exist in New York State. Other charter members included Bernadette Franklin, Jose Fuentes, Coni Minneci, and John Yerger. Joseph Eger died December 14, 2012, in Tonawanda, New York, at the age of 93.