Manfred Böttcher was born in Oberdorla, Thuringia, in 1933. From 1950 to 1955, he studied at the University of Fine Arts in Dresden under Wilhelm Lachnit and Heinz Lohmar, among others. He continued his education as a master student at the Academy of Arts in Berlin under Heinrich Ehmsen. He worked as an artist in Berlin from 1961 onwards. Böttcher died in Berlin in 2001.