Otto Wilhelm Eglau is born in Berlin in 1917. During the Second World War he serves in the Nazi army and is taken prisoner of war. After his release in 1947, he studies art at the Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Berlin, after which he finds a job as a teacher in free drawing and painting at the Technical University of Berlin. In the period 1951-1970, Eglau takes study trips around the world. From 1969 to 1976 he teaches etching techniques at the International Summer Academy for Visual Arts in Salzburg. From 1983 until his death in 1988, he works alternately in studios in Berlin and on the island of Sylt.
Eglau has had exhibitions all over the world. His graphic work was mapped by Hanns Theodor Flemming in a 1966 edition (Wolff Verlag, Flensburg).
