Walter Gotschke, a self-taught artist, was born in 1912 in a village of imperial Austrian Silesia (now Czech Republic). He moved to Germany and began working in Stuttgart in 1938.
His interest in drawing began as a child with animals as his subject. By the time he was 11, automobiles were in fashion and he began using the fabulous cars of this time as his subjects. He would illustrate an automobile after it had a pass down his street, by memory. He first viewed auto racing at the Ecce-Homo Hillclimb, the Masaryk Grand Prix and others. At the age of 17, some of his first racing images were published, and he created his first poster the following year for the Masaryk Grand Prix. Illustrating auto races became his true passion until his eyes began to fail in 1985 and he passed away in 2000.
Held at the Circuit de Monaco on April 6, 1930, the Monaco Grand Prix was won by Privateer Rene Dreyfus driving a Bugatti, and many a scene would to be painted of this famous race. The style of Gotschke exemplifies the feelings of racing and his fantastic style is historic.