Bernie Fuchs
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Bernie Fuchs (October 29, 1932 – September 17, 2009)[1] was an American illustrator known for advertising art, magazine illustration, and portraiture, including for a series of U.S. postage stamps.
Biography
Fuchs was born in O'Fallon, Illinois on October 19, 1932.[1] He grew up in humble circumstances with no father. His ambition was to be a trumpet player, but this ended after he lost three fingers on his right hand in an industrial accident the summer after graduation from high school. Fuchs turned to art as a career, despite having had no formal art training. He enrolled in Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, where he graduated in 1954.
His first job was illustrating car advertisements for an art studio in Detroit. Within a few years of moving to Detroit, Fuchs' opened the studio The Art Group, which specialized in work for the city's auto companies. In the late 1950s, Fuchs moved to Westport, Connecticut where he began doing illustrations for McCalls, Redbook, The Ladies Home Journal, Sports Illustrated and other magazines.
Fuchs was commissioned for the illustration of four U.S. postage stamps released in 1998. The stamps featured folk musicians Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, Woody Guthrie, Sonny Terry, and Josh White. Fuchs also illustrated several children's picture books, including Ragtime Tumpie and Carolina Shout!, both written by Alan Schroeder.
He painted portraits of several U.S. Presidents, including John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, as well as of such athletes and celebrities such as Muhammad Ali, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Ted Koppel and Katharine Hepburn.
He died of esophageal cancer on September 17, 2009 at a care facility in Fairfield, Connecticut. He was 76 years old.
Awards
Fuchs was the youngest illustrator ever elected to the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame.[citation needed]
In 1991, Fuchs was named Sport Artist of the Year by the American Sport Art Museum and Archives.
His and writer Alan Schroeder children's book Ragtime Tumpie was chosen by the American Library Association as one of the Notable Children's Books of 1989. It was also an International Reading Association Teachers' Choice.
Family
Fuchs married his high school sweetheart, Anna Lee Hesse. Together they raised three children: Cynthia, Derek, and Ellise.
See also
Notes
- ^ a b Bernstein, Adam (2009-09-19). "Illustrator's Works Defined an Era". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
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References
- Heller, Steven. "Bernie Fuchs, Illustrator for Magazines and Advertisements, Dies at 76", The New York Times, September 21, 2009