 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Bernie Fuchs" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(September 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Bernie Fuchs (October 29, 1932 – September 17, 2009)[1] was an Americanillustrator widely known foradvertising art,magazine illustration andportraiture, including for a series of U.S.postage stamps.
Born inO'Fallon, Illinois, on October 29, 1932,[1] Fuchs grew up in humble circumstances without a father. His ambition was to be a trumpet player, but that ended after he lost three fingers on his right hand in an industrial accident the summer after he graduated from high school. Fuchs turned to art as a career, despite having had no formal art training. He enrolled inWashington University in St. Louis,Missouri, where he graduated in 1954.
Fuchs married hishigh school sweetheart, Anna Lee Hesse, with whom he had three children: Cynthia, Derek, and Ellise. He died September 17, 2009, ofesophageal cancer at aFairfield, Connecticut, care facility — at age 76
His first job was illustrating car advertisements for New Center Studios, located first in the Fisher Bldg., then in the Penobscot Bldg in Detroit. Art Greenwald was the owner of the studio. It was the largest and most successful studio in Detroit in the 1950s and 1960s. A couple of the other illustrators were Chic Albertson and Donald Silverstein. Bernie was recognized immediately for his incredible talent and pulled in major accounts for Greenwald. 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 toWestport, Connecticut, where he began doing illustrations forMcCalls,Redbook,The Ladies Home Journal,Sports Illustrated and other magazines.
An 8-cent commemorative stamp in honor ofEmily Dickinson, designed by Fuchs, was issued by theUnited States Postal Service on August 28, 1971, as the second stamp in the "American Poet" series.[2]
Fuchs was also commissioned for the illustration of four U.S. postage stamps released in 1998. The stamps featured folk musiciansHuddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter,Woody Guthrie,Sonny Terry, andJosh White. Fuchs also illustrated severalchildren's picture books, includingRagtime Tumpie andCarolina Shout!, both written by Alan Schroeder.
He painted portraits of severalU.S. Presidents, includingJohn F. Kennedy,Lyndon Johnson,Gerald Ford,Jimmy Carter andRonald Reagan, as well as of such athletes and celebrities such asMuhammad Ali,Arnold Palmer,Jack Nicklaus,Ted Koppel andKatharine Hepburn as well as illustrations ofCarol Burnett for the title card for hershow.
Fuchs was the youngest illustrator ever elected to the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame.
In 1991, Fuchs was namedSport Artist of the Year by theAmerican Sport Art Museum and Archives.
Thechildren's bookRagtime Tumpie by Fuchs and Alan Schroeder was cited as anAmerican Library Association Notable Children's Book in 1989. It was also anInternational Reading Association Teachers' Choice. Fuchs and Schroeder also collaborated on the 1994 picture book "Carolina Shout!"
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
