New Book on Bernie Fuchs

Bernie Fuchs was a living legend when I entered the illustration world in the late 1970s, best known for the golden, glowing effect of his oil rub-out technique.



What I didn't appreciate until later was Fuch's versatility. He painted in various media and styles, always with arresting approaches to color, composition, and viewpoint.

Bernie Fuchs (1932-2009) got his start in the midwest and soon was hired by Detroit as one of the background artists for car ads. When he arrived in the New York illustration market, he rose quickly to the top and was the youngest to be honored in the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame.

 

Dan Zimmer, publisher of Illustration magazine, continues his series of illustrator monographs with the first comprehensive book on Fuchs, spanning all the diverse artwork he produced over a long and successful career.

The 240-page book has more than 300 illustrations, and it begins with a 28-page bio by David Apatoff, author of the "Illustration Art" blog.

Most of the reproductions are from original paintings and drawings, along with quality reproductions of preliminary drawings, sketches, and vintage tearsheets.

A low-resolution preview lets you check out all the art in the book. You can now preorder the book directly from the publisher for $44.95. It will ship in July.

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You can follow the book's author, David Apatoff, who is now writing about illustration art for the Saturday Evening Post. Here's an article about the William Heath Robinson exhibit in Wilmington, and here's another free online article about how magazines became an important patron of the arts in the 20th century.

Bernie Fuchs (1932-2009) on Wikipedia.