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.
What a lovely testimonial. Thank you for bringing his work to my attention.
ReplyDeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteA good lesson. Do you have examples of New Yorker cover artists who used to do good work?
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ReplyDelete" 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."
ReplyDeleteYes, 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
ReplyDeleteWhen I first saw what Fuchs did for golfing back in the day, 40 and 50 years ago, I stood as confounded like everyone else. Why did his work sing while his copycats looked one dimensional even though they mimicked his magical atmospheric effects? I’ve commented on the second image in the past and will concentrate here on the third image.
ReplyDeleteA collection of balance, counter balances and off balanced areas are shaping the action quite subtly, like a piece of fabric being pulled in countering directions.
At the bottom of the image a bright green incline wedges into the driving swing, but Fuchs then offers a number of surprises. At the top of the pine tree in the foreground is an emerald green shadow which is forming a second angle and tension with the swinging golfer's red sweater. The lower limb on the same tree echoes the golfer’s arm position. The position of the arm is suspended in space by a tension with the trunk and dark accent with his glove. Red accents of golfers at the left side of the picture accentuate the rightward wedge of the hill along with a stretch of cooler green accents along the upper edge of the main bright wedge moving rightward. The cooler green possesses two upward pointers adding an additional force to the angle of the wedge as if the ground itself was tilting off axis with the tree, as if being influenced by the golfer’s swing.
The four foreground heads right of the main dark trunk form an arching swing similar to the golfer’s back swing. The downswing begins and ends with three spectators on each side in the background. The dark trunk and four figures in the foreground form a movement into the background at right which also possess a swing-like movement.
The swing of the four heads is echoed above in a more subtle arc below the lower dark branch to our left off the main trunk in the form of a series of cool but muted cool green accents lifting in the trees below the negative space of the sky, then arching down and right. Unusual are some of the marks on this arc because they appear as little squares at the central part of the arc and as such they come forward and sit on the surface.
ReplyDeleteContinued…..
Between some trunks below, a little caddie appears at center and his golf bag extends to the swing of the golfer. The center rectangular with the caddie echoes the position of our golfer’s club position.
Three vertical rectangles including the one with the caddie form a wider standing rectangle-like box.
Traveling along the same wedged row of negative spaces to the right side of the trunk, our background abruptly turns a yellow green suggesting light in a square-like box and several other rectangles.
The yellow green forms an isolating larger rectangle when including our golfers and everything between the trunk and the right corner. The collection of bewildering square and rectangular forms are helping to unite an abrupt separation between foreground and background created by the dark tree and the muted background. Still, the lack of a transition from the lighter green to the cooler background,assumed to be behind some trees is a bit unsettling and surprising, accentuating the action and acting as a window-like pictorial device.
There’s plenty more in the image to be discovered. A few things; a space as rest in the upper left corner of the picture forms a tension with the lower right corner. In a similar space in the trees to our right edge of the picture, two branches form a muted rightward lilt out of the picture in connected rhythm with open darker branches to its left off the main dark trunk. It’s subtle but appears as intentional when coupled along with the devices used to unite foreground and background in other parts of the image.
Above the four main men at right is a warm inactive space where the eye may want to rest, but is forced forward for lack of anything to hold onto. Neither is such accidental. We see the same device used in the first image of the golfer walking right where there’s nothing much to look on our left directing us to the golfer and the play of light upon him.
In short, much of what’s been described above owes very little to the photo. The breakdown reveals a hidden life of movement in the image supporting the subject. It is an unusual image that would have left his copycats besides themselves. Thank you David for posting these images and reminding us what a treasure Bernie Fuchs was. Yes I agree with your comments about Fuchs. Also for telling us long ago about his love for Degas which revealed much to me.