Bernie Fuchs

At the Masters

1980

Painting for a poster, Comisky Park, Chicago White Sox Stadium 1985. Illustrator's Works Defined an Era: Bernie Fuchs, 76 By Adam Bernstein Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, September 19, 2009 Bernie Fuchs, 76, an illustrator whose influential work for magazines ranging from Cosmopolitan to Sports Illustrated seamlessly blended qualities of traditional narrative with hints of abstract composition, died of esophageal cancer Sept. 17 at a care facility in Fairfield, Conn. He lived in nearby Westport. Mr. Fuchs was adept at balancing art and commerce. He met the needs of mass-circulation magazines accustomed to Norman Rockwell-style realism, but he injected a fresh vitality and impressionism that became hugely popular and transformed the illustration field. He even experimented with bold designs based on the abstract expressionism movement popularized by painters Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. One vivid example, commissioned by McCall's magazine in the late 1950s, was a portrait of two young couples relaxing in a small room after dinner. One man is lying on the ground, his head nestled on a woman's lap and smoking a cigarette as she strokes his hair. While the image has the control and realism of Rockwell, it also has several more dynamic features taken from avant-garde techniques: the vigorous brush strokes; the tilted horizon that heightens a sense of drama; a lampshade in the foreground that appears slightly distorted; and, most strikingly, the placement of the couples in the distance instead of being the center of the picture. "Bernie combined the best of both worlds," said illustrator Murray Tinkelman, who directs the University of Hartford's master of fine arts program and chairs the New York-based Society of Illustrators' hall of fame committee. "He became the most emulated and imitated illustrator in the field through the 1980s . . . when the vogue turned to more decorative, whimsical, punkier illustrations that were influenced by underground cartoons like those of Robert Crumb." Mr. Fuchs entered the hall of fame in 1975. He was among the youngest inductees on a roster that includes Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth, Winslow Homer and John James Audubon. Bernard Leo Fuchs was born Oct. 19, 1932, in the coal mining town of O'Fallon, Ill., and his father soon abandoned the family. As a young man, Mr. Fuchs enjoyed drawing characters from Walt Disney movies...

Signed Lower Right Wall Street in 1985.

Medium: Watercolor over Graphite on Thick Paper Signature: Unsigned Gustavson was an excellent golfer himself and illustrated the book How To Play Your Best Golf by Tommy Armour in ...

Signed Lower Right A painting for a poster print.

Spectators, Oil on Canvas Painting by Roger Edward Kuntz, 1962 Additional information: Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 24 × 30 in (61 × 76.2 cm)

Golfers, 1928 Fred Conway (American, 1900-1973) Signed and Dated Lower Right 18.5 x 24.5 inches 30.5 x 37 inches with frame A member of the faculty of the Washington University Art ...

A wonderful, atmospheric oil painting by the often-imitated but never-equaled Bernie Fuchs. Capturing the pre-race excitement along with the ensuing hustle and bustle of the betting ...

U.S. Open at Oakmont Leroy Neiman (American, 1921-2012) Signed in pencil lower right Edition 63/300 lower left 27.5 x 39 inches 39.25 x 51 inches with frame Known for his bright, co...