Every year on this date I think back on Bernie Fuchs, a wonderful illustrator who left us too soon. As time passes I'm even more impressed with his accomplishments.
Like all illustrators, Fuchs received his share of perfunctory assignments. For example, illustrating a magazine article about a golf match; how much potential is there for glamour and excitement and creativity in pictures of middle aged men standing around on a golf course?
The answer is: plenty, if you're the right kind of artist.
That's a big reason why people once felt illustrations made an important contribution. Today, if I sometimes seem to fault illustrations for falling short of their potential, for being uninspired or unambitious or cheesy, it's partially because of my memories of how Bernie approached new assignments.
I'm not suggesting that Bernie's style from 50 years ago is a suitable style today. I'm suggesting that regardless of style, his ambition for each new picture-- the inspiration that he felt for the project, and tried to instill in readers-- were part of what once gave illustration its greatness.
6 comments:
What a lovely testimonial. Thank you for bringing his work to my attention.
I always enjoyed the stained glass effect he gets, when he uses, say, the branches of a tree as the lead came around a slightly different-colored bubble/spot. Also, the way the scrubbing technique over the distant silhouetted trees results in a sense of ethereal atmosphere between the sepia distance and the viewer's eyes. The various visual dualities produced have a nice sending/dream-inducing effect.
A good lesson. Do you have examples of New Yorker cover artists who used to do good work?
" I'm suggesting that regardless of style, his ambition for each new picture-- the inspiration that he felt for the project, and tried to instill in readers-- were part of what once gave illustration its greatness."
Yes, I would agree wholeheartedly with that David. To borrow Kev's use of the word 'dreamy' above, there is a dreaminess about being on a golf course, a world reduced to a bounded, tidy landscape in which a focused, simple goal is played out. Fuch's particular technical approach of using photo tracing coupled with phantasmagorial colour nicely straddles the journalistic and the poetic realms so that the layman reader can experience in the illustration that which he unconsciously intuits every time he approaches the first tee.
That dream inducing quality is what sets B.F. apart from a Bart Forbes golf course piece . I've wondered if Bernie had not had his hand mangled, if his work would have been much different . Al McLuckie
Post a Comment