Alfred Juretschke was born in Germany in 1898 and started to draw and paint at an early age. Unfortunately, many of those early works were stolen while on exhibit in Berlin.

He did not take up a pencil or brush again until he was in his fifties, after immigrating to the United States during WWll. Retiring from his job as a machinist at the age of 65, he spent the next 35 years gardening, traveling when funds allowed, painting and sketching wherever he was.

Alfred was nicknamed Afid by his children. His granddaughters knew him best by that name and it is how he signed his watercolor paintings and sketches.

Afid died in 1998 at the age of 100. This exhibit is a small selection of paintings chosen by his granddaughters, Annette and Susan, from the several hundred works on paper we found in portfolios and on the walls of his Queens, New York apartment. The variety shows his imagination, his love of nature, a lively fascination with abstract line along with color, and lifelong interest in sites around the world.