The famous American Caricaturist Al Hirshfield was born June 21, 1903, in St. Louis, Missouri. When he was 12 years old and had already started art lessons, the family moved to New York City. He attended public schools and the Art Students League on West 57 in New York.
Art Students League |
He studied art in Europe and traveled in East Asia, where Japanese and Javanese art influenced his graphic style. He was especially known for his stylish caricatures in the New York Times over many decades , starting from 1929, portraying show-business personalities. Hirschfeld also illustrated many books. His signature work, defined by a linear calligraphic style, made his name a verb: to be "Hirschfelded" was a sign that one has arrived.
Al used the barber's chair while working. He was married to a celebrated artist Dolly Haas and had a daughter, Nina, born in 1945.
After her birth the artist hide her name at least once in most of his drawings. Next to his signature he put the number of ''Ninas'' in his drawing in the lower right-hand corner of each drawing.
It has become a "game" for Hirschfeld fans to find the Ninas in his works. So popular did the Ninas become that the military used them in the training of bomber pilots to spot targets. A Pentagon consultant found them useful in the study of camouflage techniques.
In 1991 the United States Postal Service issued a booklet of five 29-cent stamps honoring comedians -- Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Jack Benny, Fanny Brice and Bud Abbott and Lou Costello -- as designed by the artist. Mr. Hirschfeld received more honors and awards than perhaps any other living American artist.
The artist continued to work in his studio at the townhouse, located at 122 E. 95th St and to drive his own car virtually until his death. He died in 2003 at the age of 99. The house was sold in 2011 was $5.31 million.
122 East 95 (pink house) |
His works are is in the collections of many museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in Manhattan.
There is a theater in New York named after the artist. It is theater located at 302 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan and was built by the architect G. Albert Lansburgh for vaudeville promoter Martin Beck.
Al Hirschfeld theater |
The theater opened with “Madame Pompadour” in 1924. The theater was designed to be the most opulent theater of its time, has dressing rooms for 200 actors and a seating capacity of 1,424 for musicals. The theater was named after Al Hirschfeld’s and reopened in 2003, several months after Al Hirschfeld death, with a revival of the musical Wonderful Town. The theater currently houses “Kinky Boots”.
The Library for the Performing Arts presents the largest exhibition of Al Hirschfeld’s artwork and archival material from its collection. The artist works are on show from October 17, 2013, through January 4, 2014.
Margo Feiden's gallery in Greenwich village is the only authorized agent of Al Hirschfeld's work. It is like a mini-museum housing eighty years' worth of original drawings, paintings, etchings, and lithograph.
Al Hirschfeld wrote in the introduction to his 1970 book, "The World of Hirschfeld", published in 1970:
"It is never my aim to destroy the play or the actor by ridicule,'' he continued. ''The passion of personal conviction belongs to the playwright; the physical interpretation of the character belongs to the actor; the delineation in line belongs to me. My contribution is to take the character -- created by the playwright and acted out by the actor -- and reinvent it for the reader."
Custom artwork of art has been around for a considerable length of time, however in the present society numerous individuals are utilizing custom artwork to sell artwork online for a venture and benefit.
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