Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Al Hirschfeld was a renowned illustrator and caricaturist. Hirschfeld’s lifelong passion for the performing arts married his distinctive style with the vibrant personalities of New York’s theater scene. He was able to capture the character of his subjects with a simple line drawing. He recorded personalities as illustrious and diverse as Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Ernest Hemingway, Jerry Garcia, and Liza Minnelli, among many others, in a career spanning most of the twentieth century. Hirschfeld’s works were featured in several prominent publications including the New York Times, The New Yorker, and Rolling Stone. His portraits of Hollywood stars were also featured in several series of postage stamps in the United States.
Al Hirschfeld was most famous for his caricatures of actors, musicians, and other figures from the arts and public life. He himself preferred to be known as a “characterist.” After the birth of his…
A retrospective exhibit these last few weeks at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris—perhaps too generously big an undertaking—has allowed a wider public to appreciate the originality and importance of…
This illustration depicting Jews baking matzah and cleaning the house for Passover appeared in the book Jüdisches Ceremoniel (Jewish Ceremonial Customs), by Paul Christian Kirchner, a Jewish convert…