The Art of the Game

Pablo S. Torre

July 07, 2008

WHILE HE was growing up in O'Fallon, Ill., Bernie Fuchs's ambition was to become a trumpet player. But after graduating from Washington University's School of Fine Arts in 1954 he landed a job illustrating car ads in Detroit, and soon he was one of the most sought-after magazine artists in the country. Fuchs's first pieces for SI were paintings of the 1961 Masters (below, middle), and his work has since accompanied scores of SI stories—most recently, a Sept. 5, 2005, article on Negro league star Oscar Charleston (below, left). Fuchs, 76, who has been commissioned to paint portraits of five U.S. presidents, was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 1975, and last week the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art opened a retrospective of his career. The exhibit runs through July 26.