Promotional artwork for 'Cabin in the Sky' and 'Bad Bascomb' (1940s).
Al Hirschfeld was one of the most iconic and recognizable caricaturists in the world. The U.S. artist is renowned for his ability to capture celebrities' facial features in just a few elegant, flowing lines. Between 1927 and 2003, he was the house cartoonist of The New York Times, livening up their theatrical reviews with vivid visualisations of the stage performances and actors. Hirschfeld also portrayed entertainers from other artistic disciplines, including Hollywood films. One of his trademarks was including his daughter's name, Nina, in almost every drawing he made since 1945. Active for almost seven-and-a-half decades he chronicled most of 20th-century Western entertainment. Hirschfeld's prestigious art decorated pages in many magazines. Although he never made a comic strip, some of his stylish caricatures make use of sequential panels. His impact on cartoonists and comic artists worldwide is also immeasurable.
Early life
Albert Hirschfeld was born in 1903 in St. Louis, Missouri. His father Isaac was a traveling salesman of German-Jewish descent, and his mother Rebecca a Russian-Jewish immigrant. Despite the fact that Isaac only spoke English and Rebecca only Russian and Yiddish, the couple fell in love and settled in St. Louis. She was also the breadwinner, working in department stores and later running her own candy store. Father Hirschfeld stayed home to take care of their three sons, of which Albert was the youngest. In 1914, the family moved to New York City. Al Hirschfeld often went to local vaudeville theatre, where he was enchanted by the actors, singers, dancers and comedians. One time he was allowed to meet the legendary illusionist Harry Houdini backstage. Because of Hirschfeld's passion for drawing and sculpting, he took evening classes at the National Academy of Design in New York City. His main graphic influences were Honoré Daumier, Aubrey Beardsley, Mexican mural painters, Chinese calligraphists, Japanese woodblock artists (like Hokusai, Ando Hiroshige, Hiroshige II, Kitagawa Utamaro) and cartoonists Max Beerbohm, Al Frueh, John Held, Jr., and Miguel Covarrubias. With the latter, Hirschfeld would share a studio in the 1930s.
In 1920, the 17-year old Al Hirschfeld became art director for film studios like Goldwyn Pictures, Metro Pictures (who later merged to become MGM), First National (later Warner Brothers), Pathé and Selznick Pictures. He mostly designed film posters for Hollywood comedies, already caricaturing actors like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. At Selznick, he was put in charge of his own art studio, which employed various artists. Unfortunately, Selznick Pictures went bankrupt in 1924, leaving Hirschfeld in tremendous debt. Thanks to a new job at Warners, he was able to pay everything off, but vowed to never work for anybody or have anybody under his employ again. Indeed, for the majority of his career, he was a freelance artist.
Travels
In 1924, to reward his nephew for taking responsibility to pay off all his debts, Hirschfeld's uncle offered him 500 dollars and suggested traveling to Paris. At the time, Paris was the cultural center of the world. Many internationally famous local and foreign artists and entertainers lived there. Hirschfeld was very attracted to the romantic idea of making art in this dazzling city, but later admitted that he was also "young and naïve". For one, he couldn't even speak French. Together with some friends he lived in a studio in the Avenue Domaine, on the Parisian Left Bank in a detached bungalow without heating or running water. To avoid shaving, he grew a long beard and kept it the rest of his life. While Hirschfeld and his housemates had no luxury, they enjoyed the bohemian lifestyle.
In 1927, Hirschfeld also visited the Soviet Union, to cover the Moscow theatre culture. A year later, he traveled to Teheran, Iran, while in 1931-1932 he spent 10 months on the Indonesian island Bali. This latter vacation had a strong influence on his graphic development. In Bali, the sun was so bright that it reduced everybody to simple lines. It made him look at people in a more linear way. While Bali was beautiful, he also stayed there for so long because he was completely broke. Unable to buy a ticket home, Hirschfeld was lucky to meet Charlie Chaplin on the island. Also on holiday, the Hollywood legend bought almost all of Hirschfeld's watercolor paintings, so he could finally travel back to the USA.
Hirschfeld drawing of 'Porgy & Bess' (18 January 1942).
Theatre caricatures
Hirschfeld's graphic career was launched in 1926, when he attended a Broadway performance by Sacha Guitry and Yvonne Printemps and made some sketches of them on the playbill. His friend Richard Maney, a Broadway press agent, suggested to put these drawings on a clean, presentable piece of paper, so he could offer them to a newspaper. A week later, they were printed in The New York Herald Tribune. Soon after, the editors asked Hirschfeld to make more illustrations of new theatrical performances, so they could use them to liven up reviews. In 1927, Hirschfeld received a telegram from The New York Times, who commissioned him to make a drawing of Hollywood actor Harry Lauder. This led to more commissions for this paper, all sent by telegram. For two years, the cartoonist had no contact with their editorial board, delivering all of his drawings at their doorstep. It wasn't until 1929, when Hirschfeld attended a play at Belasco Theatre, that he was introduced to his commissioner in the lobby. He told Hirschfeld that he was "the most mysterious contributor to their magazine", since nobody had any clue what he looked like. Therefore he invited Hirschfeld to come to their offices to meet the rest of the editors. And so, from 1927 to 2003, Hirschfeld became house cartoonist for The New York Times, making weekly caricatures.
Whenever a new Broadway production was announced, Al Hirschfeld studied available press photographs, visited the set or attended the play. Although he sometimes used photos, he generally avoided them, since he found them very misleading. Six photographs of the same person often gave him "six different versions" of somebody's face and body. He preferred to see the performers on stage, so he could witness them in motion. If he couldn't attend the premier, he went to the rehearsals or try-outs. In the early years, Hirschfeld tried to draw the actors while sitting in the darkened theatre audience. Since he couldn't see what he was doing, he put marks in his sketchbook, to indicate where the lines needed to be. He also penned down small initials only he could understand, to remind him of visual specifications. Although this might seem difficult to the uninitiated, Hirschfeld recalled that it was actually as easy as a stenographer or typist taking notes without looking at their paper or keyboard. Back in the hotel, he improved his sketches on a different sheet, with aid of his memory. Starting in the 1980s, the producers also sent him videotapes of the rehearsals or the premier, which also gave him an idea of how the actors were in motion. Hirschfeld's drawings were often completed before the review was written, so they could appear in that week's issue.
At the start of his career, readers had to get used to Hirschfeld's caricatures, even people from his own paper. New York Times editor Lester Markel once asked him whether he could make "more realistic" portraits, since the people in his drawings often looked "like animals". Hirschfeld told Markel that he could indeed do something about it, namely "get somebody else". He saw no fun in making academic drawings. Markel respected this explanation and Hirschfeld was allowed to draw as he pleased. Soon Hirschfeld became one of the defining contributors to The New York Times and a readers' favorite. Now Markel wanted his star cartoonist to sign an exclusivity contract, but Hirschfeld didn't want to be legally tied to one magazine. Instead, he promised to stay loyal to them, if they just shook hands on it. This was good enough for Markel and for the next 75 years, Hirschfeld's theatre-themed illustrations appeared exclusively in The New York Times. Only in 1995 the principled artist finally gave in and signed a real contract with his paper.
1977 drawing by Al Hirschfeld for 'Annie the Musical', based on Harold Gray's comic strip 'Little Orphan Annie'.
To seven generations of readers, Hirschfeld's name became inextricably connected to Broadway and New York's Big Apple. His vivid illustrations made people reminisce about the plays they had seen, or motivated others to go and attend it. He expressed the thrill of seeing mesmerizing performances, the joy of hearing wonderful songs and the heartfelt emotions a captivating story can bring. Millions of people, all around the world, who never went to Broadway in their entire lives, got their general impression from looking at Hirschfeld's stylish drawings. Jules Feiffer once said that "the only glamour left in the theatre is what Hirschfeld brings to it." Hirschfeld chronicled many actors, dancers, singers, lyricists, composers, playwrights and producers. Some later became huge names in the industry. The artist captured countless performances. Since many people who were once involved in the production have passed away, not to mention the theatregoers themselves, there is barely any record left of what these plays were like. Sometimes there are photographs, audio recordings and written reviews available, but for the most part, Hirschfeld's graphic interpretations are nowadays the only visual record theatre historians have of these long forgotten stage shows and entertainers. Annually, his caricatures were compiled in books under the title 'The Best Plays of...'. Another compilation of his theatre work is 'American Theater. The American Theater as Seen by Al Hirschfeld, The Entertainers (Elm Tree Books, 1977).
In interviews, Hirschfeld always stated that he never had any intent to be a "theatre caricaturist", but reflected that life often pushes you in directions that you can't foresee. While his drawings gave an impression of the play's mood and the actors' personalities, he had otherwise no involvement in the actual reviews. The admired artist preferred to leave this aspect to professional critics. Despite his longevity in the field, Hirschfeld had no special insight in what plays were destined to become classics, and which were not. He incorrectly predicted that the present-day classics 'Oklahoma!' and 'My Fair Lady' would be huge flops. Once he was involved with the production of a comedy musical, 'Sweet Bye & Bye' (1946), by Ogden Nash and Vernon Duke. Hirschfeld and New York Times staff writer columnist S.J. Perelman worked on the libretto, but the play was no success. The best thing to come out of their collaboration was a lifelong friendship. On the other hand, Hirschfeld did have a positive influence on another successful Broadway play. When he visited Thailand, he was allowed to film the dressing and dance rehearsals of the royal dancers. He showed the footage to Rodgers and Hammerstein, who worked on a musical about the King of Siam, which resulted in the classic 'The King and I' (1951).
Given his close connection to the world of theatre, it was only natural that Hirschfeld's three marriages all shared a similar connection. Between 1927 and 1932, he was married to Florence Ruth Hobby, a chorus girl. From 1943 until her death in 1994, Hirschfeld was married to German-American Broadway actress Dolly Haas. Film fans may know Haas best in her role as Alma Keller in Alfred Hitchock's thriller 'I Confess' (1953). Hirschfeld and Haas had a daughter, Nina Hirschfeld (born in 1945). His final partner was theatre historian Louise Hertz, to whom he was married from 1996 until his death.
'Oklahoma & Ziegfeld Follies' musical (1943).
Music caricatures
As a chronicler of Broadway, Hirschfeld also portrayed a lot of musicals. From the 1930s on, the most successful ones were adapted into Hollywood pictures. Record companies started releasing popular musical songs on vinyl. As soon as records were able to include more songs, soundtrack albums came in vogue. Producers received permission to use earlier published artwork by Hirschfeld on the cover. Later he also made exclusive designs for musical records, making him a pioneer in album cover design. His earliest work in this field was done for George Gershwin's 'Porgy and Bess' (1938). He livened up many Broadway albums over the decades, including 'Guys and Dolls' (1950), 'Me and the Colonel' (1958), 'The Boys From Syracuse' (1963), 'Fiddler on the Roof' (1964), 'Man of La Mancha' (1966) and 'Dr. Doolittle' (1967). He also made the cover of the 1964 'My Fair Lady' soundtrack album, depicting playwright George Bernard Shaw in the clouds, operating actors Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews as marionettes. Author Paul Rudnick recalled in his book 'Jeffrey' that his parents owned the album when he was a child. Back then, he thought that the long-bearded Shaw in the drawing was actually God. As he wittingly added: "It was your parents' album, you were little, you thought it was a picture of God. As, I believe, did Shaw."
Al Hirschfeld's drawing of Aerosmith, used for their 1977 album 'Draw The Line'.
Hirschfeld's art has also been used for re-releases of music by deceased Broadway lyricists and composers, as well as late classical and jazz musicians. Though he also livened up records by (then-)living musicians like violinists Isaac Stern and Jascha Feitz, pianist Arthur Rubinstein, The Three Tenors and the easy listening performers Mantovani and Arthur Fiedler & the Boston Pops Orchestra. On 19 April 1931, Hirschfeld drew a caricature of jazz composer Duke Ellington, printed in the Des Moines Register. By November of that same year, the portrait was used as official promotional art for Ellington's tour, commissioned by the Mills Dance Orchestra. Hirschfeld additionally designed covers for jazz musicians like Toots Thielemans ('Toots', 1968), Donald Byrd ('Caricatures', 1976) and Joe Pass ('Blues for Fred', 1988). He made one rock album illustration, appearing on Aerosmith's 1977 album 'Draw the Line'. The band members liked the drawing so much that they asked Hirschfeld to draw a duplicate, so there wouldn't be arguments over who would receive the original artwork. Hirschfeld also used his talent to visualize the sleeves of various comedy albums, namely 'An Evening With Me' (1961) by Don Knotts, 'The Saucier's Apprentice' (1983) by S.J. Perelman, 'The World According to Me!' (1987) by Jackie Mason, 'A Night of Two Stars' (2000) by Bob & Ray and a spoken word release by Ogden Nash, 'Ogden Nash Reads' (1953).
In 1983, the Smithsonian Institute organized an exhibition about the 'American Popular Song', for whom Hirschfeld portrayed thirteen legendary songwriters and seven equally iconic singers. Some releases of albums on which artists like Michael Feinstein and Steve Ross covered artists of the Great American Songbook used caricatures by Hirschfeld on the sleeve. Between 1991 and 2001, Hirschfeld collaborated with BMG on 85 album covers depicting famous classical composers and jazz musicians.
Film poster for 'A Day At The Races' with The Marx Brothers, designed by Al Hirschfeld.
Film caricatures
Internationally, Hirschfeld's most popular caricatures are based on Hollywood stars. Partially, of course, since not all theatrical actors have appeared on the small or big screen and are therefore less recognizable to the general viewer. But also since his gentle drawings perfectly encapsulate the glamour of Hollywood's dream factory. His portraits have a nostalgic feel, cherishing our fond movie-watching memories. Hirschfeld immortalized stars from Hollywood's golden era, like Katharine Hepburn, W.C. Fields, Clark Gable and Judy Garland. But he also went along with the times, portraying post-World War II stars like Jack Nicholson, Jane Fonda, Meryl Streep and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In addition to his caricatures, in the 1920s and 1930s Hirschfeld also designed film posters. He made several for movies starring Charlie Chaplin, Laurel & Hardy and The Marx Brothers. His poster for the Marx Brothers' 1935 film 'A Night at the Opera' was a collage. Harpo's hair is made from cotton balls, Chico's curly locks are Brillo pads and Groucho's moustache is created with a black piece of silk felt. His glasses are constructed from pipe cleaners. MGM actually encouraged the comedians to model themselves more after the way Hirschfeld portrayed them. Even though Groucho was already balding, they gave him a toupet, styling his hair in two triangles, just like on Hirschfeld's drawing.
In 1991, the United States Postal Service commissioned Hirschfeld to draw a series of stamps celebrating classic Hollywood comedians and film stars of the Silent Era. He even received permission to include his trademark - a hidden "Nina" name - in the drawings. Normally, the Postal Service doesn't allow subliminal messages in its stamps. Collections of Hirschfeld's Hollywood-themed caricatures can be found in the books 'Show Business is No Business' (Simon & Shuster, 1951, reprinted in 1983 by Da Capo) and 'Hirschfeld's Hollywood: The Film Art of Al Hirschfeld' (Harry N. Abrams, 2001).
Political caricatures
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Hirschfeld was also briefly active as a political cartoonist. Ideologically, he was left-wing. Inspired by Soviet propaganda artists, Hirschfeld used the lithograph technique. He once offered a political cartoon to the British newspaper The Times, but the chief editor rejected it because the graphic style "looked Communist" and suggested taking it to the Communist paper The New Masses. They accepted it, and for a while, Hirschfeld drew political cartoons for this paper. But as his showbiz caricatures took up most of his time, he eventually refrained from making political cartoons. He said that he "lacked the venom" to make critical drawings of politicians, feeling more at ease with gentle portraits of entertainers. When his critical cartoon of right-wing conservative and raving anti-Semite televangelist Charles Coughlin was censored by the editors of The New Masses, Hirschfeld objected. The editors disagreed with Coughlin's policies, but felt the drawing would be considered offensive by the Catholic unions. To him this was hypocritical and he left the magazine. However, it shouldn't be overlooked that being associated with a Communist magazine would have thwarted Hirschfeld's career in the United States. Especially given the fact that in 1927 he had traveled to the Soviet Union. Indeed, few biographies mention Hirschfeld's short-lived career as a political cartoonist.
Al Hirschfeld drawing with spot color.
Style
Al Hirschfeld's graphic technique has sometimes been compared with that of a calligraphist. In the early years, he was paid for every inch in the newspaper columns his drawings occupied. To increase his pay, he deliberately stretched his lines as far as possible on the paper, even if it left a lot of white space in between. This laid the foundations for his recognizable and often imitated graphic style. Hirschfeld's portraits are composed with swift, curly lines. The people have a roundish, elegant look. While his lines seem to skate in loops, everything is very calculated. His scenes are always positioned in clean, classy, easily readable compositions. Hirschfeld sometimes worked in color, or used a few spot colors as backgrounds. Yet he felt he was at his best when he could simply draw in black ink, with aid from his crow quill pen. To work comfortably, he sat in an old barbershop chair.
As his career progressed, Hirschfeld tried to capture people's physical features in as few lines as possible. Interviewed in 1985, he said he had "no formula": "All I know is to keep paring it down, eliminating, until it's pure line that communicates." Playwright Terrence McNally praised Hirschfeld with the following words: "No one 'writes' more accurately of the performing arts than Al Hirschfeld. He accomplishes on a blank page with his pen and ink in a few strokes what many of us need a lifetime of words to say." Fellow cartoonist Jules Feiffer nicknamed Hirschfeld the "Fred Astaire of ink", because, just like the famous Hollywood tap dancer, he made his complicated expertise look easy. Feiffer: "He has the same effortlessness, the same grace, the same wit and that lighter-than-air quality". Hirschfeld rarely made preliminary sketches. He always treated the drawing he worked on as his final product. To the observer, it often looks as if everything simply rolled out of his pen. But in reality, he did a lot of erasing to get the desired effect. Dutch comic artist and Hirschfeld admirer Hanco Kolk once stated that he was disappointed to discover that Hirschfeld's seemingly "perfectly flowing lines" were the result of blanking out every "wrong" line. Small corrections one wouldn't see in print, but are clearly visible on the original artwork.
Hirschfeld always felt the term "caricaturist" didn't accurately define his craft. Most caricaturists are simply content with capturing somebody's physical likeness. Hirschfeld, on the other hand, also wanted to express the personality of his subjects. He therefore preferred the self-invented term "characterist". Despite his high stature in the field, he never felt his job was easy. Once he had to draw actress Geraldine Fitzgerald, but couldn't quite get her on paper. It got to the point that he feared he had "lost his talent". Faced with a deadline, he simply submitted what he had and was stunned to learn that Fitzgerald actually want to buy the drawing. He told her that this was impossible, since he was already "burning" the original out of shame. Another time, he had to portray Broadway composer Oscar Hammerstein, but felt he always looked "drunk" in his drawing, an opinion nobody else shared. In the early 1960s, Hirschfeld also made five drawings of TV actor Garry Moore for a TV show, at the request of an ad agency. Much to his frustration, his wife and housekeeper thought he had caricatured Buster Keaton. After days of retrying, he finally made one caricature of Moore that others instantly recognized. Tired and somewhat frightened of being unable to make four additional recognizable caricatures of Moore, he simply took this one excellent drawing, photocopied it and copy-pasted it upon his four other drawings. Much to his surprise, he wasn't accused of fraud, but won a graphic award for it.
Caricature of Clint Eastwood. Spot the Ninas.
Nina
Another trademark of Hirschfeld's caricatures was the inclusion of his daughter's name Nina. From 5 November 1945 on, he hid her name in many of his portraits. The four-letter name can be found in haircuts, eyebrows, wrinkles, clothing, shoelaces and other elements, and sometimes more than once. It started out as a simple inside joke for him and his friends, but readers soon caught on. Many people have fond memories of trying to spot the "Nina" in Hirschfeld's drawings. In some families it became a favorite pastime during weekends. It made Hirschfeld one of the rare cartoonists whose work isn't simply glossed over after watching it for a few seconds, but scrutinized for minutes. The Federal Aviation Agency even trained bomber pilots by having their recruits try find the hidden "Nina" in Hirschfeld's work. That way they would increase their perceptual ability. Hirschfeld was absolutely horrified to learn his work was used for warfare.
Hirschfeld wasn't too keen on the "Seek Nina" craze in general either, which he once described as a "National Insanity". It certainly increased his name recognition (and that of his daughter), but also became too much of a gimmick, distracting attention away from the portraits. After a while, he felt obligated to include a Nina in each drawing. From 1960 on, by request of a reader, he also added a number next to his signature to give people a clue how many Nina's there were hidden. In 1966, he deliberately made a drawing of his now full-grown daughter, titled 'Nina's Revenge'. It had four hidden names, twice "Al" (his own) and twice "Dolly" (his wife). Ironically enough, there was no hidden "Nina", since Nina herself was in full view. Another time, during a 1973 exhibition of his work, Hirschfeld encountered a student who was closely scrutinizing one of his drawings of New York's Central Park. He claimed to have spotted 11 of the 39 Nina's, as indicated next to his signature. Hirschfeld had to inform him that the "39" next to his signature was simply the year he made the drawing: 1939. Additionally, there were no Nina's to be spotted, since his daughter wasn't even born yet in that year. In 1984, comedian-actress Whoopi Goldberg told Hirschfeld that she sometimes felt frustrated being unable to find all of the Nina's in his drawings. A few weeks later, Hirschfeld portrayed her with a record-breaking 40 instances of Nina's name hidden in the caricature.
TV Guide cover 14 August 1976 with Hirschfeld drawing of Peter Falk as 'Columbo'.
Success
As his fame grew, Hirschfeld became more in demand. His caricatures livened up columns and press articles in magazines like American Mercury, The Brooklyn Tribune, Collier's, Life, Look, The New Masses, New York Magazine, The Old World, Playbill, Rolling Stone, the Saturday Evening Post, Seventeen, TV Guide and Vanity Fair. With 40 different covers he was the most productive TV Guide cover artist ever, topping Jack Davis to a second place. He also visualized Patrick F. McManus' humor column in Outdoor Life and John O'Hara's column 'Appointment with O'Hara' in Collier's. Together with Alexander King, Hirschfeld edited the satirical journal Americana. Throughout his 75-year long career at The New York Times, there was a brief period in the 1960s when the paper used photographs instead of Hirschfeld's caricatures. Dozens of readers' letters came in, asking "what happened to Hirschfeld", which eventually led to his triumphant return. By that time, editors also realized that an issue without their signature cartoonist was like a circus without clowns.
In 20th-century Western entertainment, there is barely an international star whom Hirschfeld hasn't defined and immortalized in his work. He portrayed people from the world of theatre, musicals, opera, ballet, vaudeville, circus, magicians, puppetry, mime, classical music, jazz, pop music, film, radio and television. Many celebrities felt honored when he portrayed them and bought the original artworks. Dancer Ray Bolger once told Hirschfeld that he "imitated his drawings while dancing", using the same swiftness. Actress Carol Channing actually credited Hirschfeld with launching her career. A caricature by him of her performing in the musical 'Lend an Ear' caught the eye of a Broadway producer, who then cast her in the musical 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes', which became a huge hit. A 1944 caricature of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt making the V-sign was added at the side of the U.S.S. Roosevelt at the request of FDR himself. Hirschfeld was also invited to the White House. When Hollywood comedian Groucho Marx wanted to publish his 'Memoirs of a Mangy Lover' (1963), he tried to get Hirschfeld to illustrate it, but through a communication mistake his publishers got political cartoonist and courtroom sketch artist Leo Hirschfield instead.
Occasionally, Hirschfeld stumbled upon actors with bruised egos who disliked his caricatures. One time, CBS wanted to promote their new TV season with a preview magazine. Hirschfeld made a special drawing of their various stars. Just before the release, he was informed that TV host Allen Funt disliked his caricature, so Hirschfeld quickly made a replacement drawing. The New York Herald Tribune published this alternative version, but The New York Times ran the original, because it was too late to postpone its release. A Newsweek reporter noticed the two different drawings and phoned Hirschfeld for commentary. He didn't want to get involved and sent the journalist to Funt, who complained that Hirschfeld's first drawing "made him look like a gorilla". When the journalist confronted Hirschfeld with this information, the cartoonist replied: "I had nothing whatever to do with the way Mr. Funt looks, that's God's work." Another time, TV pianist and all-round showman Liberace showed interest in one of Hirschfeld's caricatures. His estate asked the cartoonist whether they could obtain the original. When Hirschfeld asked how much Liberace wanted to pay for it, the estate felt offended, since none of the artists had ever demanded a fee. The cartoonist replied he was willing to hang his portrait in Mr. Liberace's living room, if "Liberace could hang in his."
Gilbert & Sullivan at the Savoy Opera in Cherry Lane Theater (1942).
Comics
Al Hirschfeld was always purely a caricaturist. Interviewed by Art Spiegelman for an episode of 'Theater Talk' (November 2001), Hirschfeld confessed he wasn't too familiar with comics, yet old enough to remember pioneers like George McManus and Frederick Burr Opper in the papers. He never drew a comic strip in his entire life, but did occasionally use sequences. A 1928 drawing depicting a play in the Moscow Art Theatre shows various actors in different scenes, with numbers to provide reference who each of them are and what role they play. On 2 August 1937, Hirschfeld made an atypical contribution to Life Magazine, where editor Harold Ross was transformed into Joseph Stalin. Two photos depicting Ross were printed next to each other, only with Hirschfeld drawing eyebrows, a moustache and military uniform on the second picture, to make Ross resemble the Soviet leader. For a 1942 performance of Gilbert & Sullivan at the Savoy Opera in Cherry Lane Theater, Hirschfeld drew two panels to capture the mood of the play. One shows people gathering outside, waiting to enter. The other panel depicts the actors on stage, while the conductor conducts the orchestra. In 1983, Hirschfeld also drew illusionist Doug Henning chopped up from head to toe in various panels.
While Hirschfeld usually portrayed real people, there are a few cartoons in which he portrayed fictional characters. In a cartoon printed in The New York Times on 26 December 1937, he depicted Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse in three different but thematically connected drawings, under the caption: "Mickey Mouse Can Be All Things To All Men". The original article discussed how in Yugoslavia Mickey was "suspected of revolutionary changes", while in Russia he represents the "weakness of the masses under capitalism". In one panel, Hirschfeld portrays Mickey as a stereotypical businessman, while the other depicts him as a bomb-throwing laborer. The third panel shows the real Mickey from a bird's perspective, looking at himself in confusion in the other two panels. While the drawings aren't a real "story", they ought to be read in connection to each other.
Caricature of illusionist Doug Henning.
In 1973, Hirschfeld made a drawing depicting Disney characters at the Algonquin Roundtable, to celebrate the release of Christopher Finch's book 'The Art of Walt Disney'. The cartoon depicts Mickey & Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto, Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo and Bambi, with Walt Disney, actors Julie Andrews, Peter Ustinov and Mickey Mouse Club host Annette Funicello in the background. Sci-fi author Ray Bradbury, who was a personal friend of Disney, owned the original drawing. In 1983, Hirschfeld also portrayed the cast of Jim Henson's 'Sesame Street' alongside the Muppet characters Big Bird, Grover, Oscar, the Count, Cookie Monster and Bert & Ernie. Hirschfeld's 'Dressing Room' (1994) depicts Daffy Duck asking Bugs Bunny for an autograph. An undated drawing portrays the Looney characters Elmer Fudd, the Tazmanian Devil, Daffy Duck, Foghorn Leghorn, Tweety, Bugs Bunny, Babs Bunny, Petunia Pig, Porky Pig and Sylvester at a fancy restaurant table. Another undated cartoon depicts Yosemite Sam, Daffy, Babs, Bugs, Porky and Wile E. Coyote in tuxedo in front of a Pathé Theatre.
Graphic contributions
Al Hirschfeld illustrated William Saroyan's book 'Harlem As Seen By Hirschfeld' (Hyperion, 1941), a book collecting sketches of the New York City district of Harlem. With humorist S. J. Perelman, he made the book 'Westward Ha! Or Around the World in 80 Clichés' (1948), based on a nine-month trip across the globe for Holiday Magazine. Hirschfeld also illustrated Perelman's books 'Listen to the Mocking Bird' (1950) and 'The Road to Miltown' (1957). Besides his work in the field of film posters and album record covers, Hirschfeld didn't make much advertising illustrations. Agencies often sent him sketches of what they wanted, which made him wonder why they just didn't let this sketch artist design the ad instead. He was always too free-spirited to let others dictate his drawings. But in 1979 he did allow himself to be photographed by Annie Leibowitz for an ad promoting American Express. In 1993, he received creative freedom to draw an advertisement for Absolut Vodka.
Crowd drawing of Hollywood stars. In the first row we recognize (from left to right) Stepin Fetchit (with cigar), Fred Astaire, William Powell, Myrna Loy, Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Raimu, Michel Simon, Gina Lollobrigida and Gerard Philipe. Sitting around the table in the upper left corner, we find (clockwise) Adolphe Menjou, Spencer Tracy, Clark Gable, John Gilbert, John Barrymore and Louis Jouvet. The table in the upper center corner features Fernandel, Michele Morgan, Mickey Mouse, Harpo, Groucho and Chico Marx. The table in the upper right corner depicts Wallace Beery (with cowboy hat), Marie Dressler, Orson Welles, George Arliss and Marilyn Monroe. Moving to the centre left, we spot a table with Erich von Stroheim (in military uniform), Warner Oland, Lon Chaney, Charles Laughton (as the captain of 'The Bounty'), Edward G. Robinson, Peter Lorre, Bela Lugosi (with knife), Boris Karloff (looming over Lugosi) and Joan Crawford. The centre table depicts (clockwise) Alec Guinness (with pipe and glass in hand), Charles Boyer, Anna Magnani and Maurice Chevalier. Charlie Chaplin stands in the middle, back turned to the viewer. Left of him, Greta Garbo sits alone. The table in the centre right shows (clockwise) Buster Keaton, Laurel & Hardy, Mickey Rooney, W.C. Fields, Ben Turpin, Clara Bow, Harold Lloyd and Harry Langdon. The table next to that one portrays (clockwise) William S. Hart (with cowboy hat), Jimmy Durante (raising his glass), Bing Crosby, Judy Garland and Bob Hope. In the lower left corner, the table features (clockwise) Jean Harlow, Rudolph Valentino (as toreador), Theda Bara, Bette Davis, Marléne Dietrich, Hedy Lamarr, Mae West and Rita Hayworth. The table in the lower right corner depicts Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, Gloria Swanson, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Katharine Hepburn, little Shirley Temple and Norma Shearer. Above Shearer, we spot Ingrid Bergman and Gary Cooper.
Recognition
Hirschfeld's drawings have been exhibited numerous times, all over the world. In 1975, he received a special Tony Award for his 50-year long career, followed in 1984 by the first annual Brooks Atkinson Lifetime Achievement Tony Award. In 1982, the University of Hartford bestowed him with the title "Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts". In 1996, the veteran cartoonist won the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award, while the New York City Landmarks Commission named him a "Living Landmark". In 2000, the U.S. Library of Congress declared Hirschfeld a "Living Legend". Two years later, he received the National Medal of the Arts (2002) and was inducted into the Academy of Arts and Letters. After his death, the Martin Beck Theatre on Broadway was renamed the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. He was additionally posthumously inducted in the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
Hirschfeld's desk and chair are on display in the lobby of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. His drawings are included in the collections of the Harvard Theater, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Portrait Gallery, the New York Library and the Whitney Museum.
Death, legacy and influence
Hirschfeld remained active for The New York Times until a month before his death. In 2003, he died in his home in Manhattan. He was 99, only six months ahead of what would've been his 100th birthday. His passing made worldwide headlines. Many observed that he, much like another long-running cartoonist Herbert Block, basically "captured the entire 20th century". As he once remarked: "When you long live enough, everything happens." Since 1971, many of Hirschfeld's artworks were distributed by the Margo Feiden Galleries in New York. In 2004, the Al Hirschfeld Foundation was established as a non-profit organization. On 2 October 2020, the Al Hirschfeld Foundation regained complete control over all of Hirschfeld's drawings, having successfully sued the Margo Feiden Galleries for more control and rigorous accounting of the sales of Hirschfeld's art.
In the United States, Al Hirschfeld influenced Tom Beland, Barbara Dale, Mort Drucker, Ken Fallin, Drew Friedman, Mike Fontanelli, Eric Goldberg, Sam Norkin, Justin "Squigs" Robinson and Rick Tulka. The Genie in the animated feature 'Aladdin' (1992) and the 'Rhapsody in Blue' segment in 'Fantasia 2000' (2000), produced by the Walt Disney Company, were directly inspired by Hirschfeld's style. A Canadian admirer of Hirschfeld is John Kricfalusi. In Europe, his stylish caricatures found followers in Belgium (Morris), The Netherlands (Hanco Kolk) and the United Kingdom (Gerald Scarfe). German painter and graphic artist George Grosz also admired Hirschfeld and wrote a foreword to his 1938 catalogue.
Books and documentaries about Al Hirschfeld
The best and most complete overviews of Hirschfeld's art can be found in the books 'Hirschfelds World' (H.N. Abrams, 1981), 'Show Business Is No Business' (Simon & Shuster, 1951/Da Capo, 1983) and David Leopold's 'The Hirschfeld Century: Portrait of an Artist and His Age' (Knopf, 2015). Hirschfeld's drawings have also been collected on a CD-Rom: 'Hirschfeld: The Great Entertainer'. For those interested in Hirschfeld's life and career, the biography 'Hirschfeld' (Skyhorse, 2017) by Ellen Stern and Susan Dryfoos' documentary film 'The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story' (1996) are highly recommended. The latter film features interviews with people such as Julie Andrews, Lauren Bacall, Carol Channing, Joan Collins, Kathie Lee Gifford, Robert Goulet, Roger Moore, Mike Wallace, Barbara Walters and Jules Feiffer. It was also nominated for an Academy Award, but lost to Leon Gast and David Sonenberg's 'When We Were Kings', about boxing legend Muhammad Ali.
Self-portrait.