Hirschfeld, Al

Hirschfeld, Al (Albert Hirschfeld) (hûrsh`fĕld), 1903–2003, American graphic artist, b. St. Louis. He and his family moved to New York City when he was 12, and he studied art there and in Paris. A master of line, Hirschfeld is famous for his witty, perceptive, and joyful caricatures of celebrities from the theater and other arts. Many of of these appeared, from 1926 on, in the New York Times. His work is represented in the collections of the Whitney Museum, Museum of Modern Art, and Metropolitan Museum of Art, all in New York City. Hirschfeld also wrote and illustrated several books.

Bibliography

See his The World of Hirschfeld (1970); Hirschfeld: The Great Entertainers (CD-ROM, 1995); S. W. Dryfoos, dir., The Line King (film documentary, 1996).

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Hirschfeld, Al(bert)

(born June 21, 1903, St. Louis, Mo., U.S.—died Jan. 20, 2003, New York, N.Y.) U.S. caricaturist. He lived mostly in New York City. 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 (beginning 1929) portraying show-business personalities, in which readers enjoyed hunting for the name of his daughter, Nina. Hirschfeld also illustrated many books and produced watercolours, lithographs, etchings, and sculptures.

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Hirschfeld, Al (Albert) (1903–  ) graphic artist, caricaturist; born in St. Louis, Mo. Based in New York City, he studied at the Art Students League (c. 1918), worked for David Selznick (1921) and Warner Brothers (1921–24), New York, and established a studio in Paris (1924–25). He became the theater correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune in Moscow (1927–28), then worked for the New York Times from 1929. A consummate traveler, he is famous for his stylized and perceptive caricatures of theater and public personalities. Beginning in 1945 he concealed his daughter's name, Nina, in almost every drawing.