Otto Fuchs

Fuchs was born at Salzwedel, Prussia. He came to America with his parents when he was twelve years of age. At the age of seventeen he entered the office of a Hoboken architect and civil engineer, and while working in the office by day he attended school at night. His interest in the construction, of monitors at the outbreak of the Civil War caused him to accept the position of draftsman at the naval bureau office in New York, where plans for the new war vessels were being made. After the war Fuchs became a teacher of mechanical drawing at Cooper Union, NYC. After further study in all branches of drawing and design, he became professor of drawing at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis and later a teacher of art in Boston. He went to Baltimore in 1883 to become head of the Maryland Institute School of Art and Design, a position he held until his death.