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This exhibition is supported by the members of the Susquehanna Art Museum and
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The Unaccountable Line of Al Hirschfeld
"His black inks can look blacker than black, and
he can make the untouched white of the page work for him as a henchman
and a friend. He has no favorites: in a big cast, every man and every
woman is drawn with equal care. And he does it with an evident pleasure
that makes the reader want to go right out and buy tickets."
John Russell
"People who study [Hirschfeld drawings] carefully realize that, in addition to being amusing, they are works of art, and many of them masterpieces. In the field of calligraphy, Al is a genius. He is a master of line, perspective and design. The principal museums in America buy his drawings because they are not only vivid records of people everyone knows but also part of the twentieth century. Manners and styles will change. But Al's drawings will remain, like those of Cruikshank, Daumier, and Toulouse-Lautrec, as records of a way of life by an artist who has a point of view.”
Brooks Atkinson
Legendary artist Al Hirschfeld brought a new set of visual conventions to the task of performance portraiture when he made his debut in 1926. His signature work, defined by a linear calligraphic style, has made his name a verb: to be "Hirschfelded" is a sign that one has arrived. Instead of deflating his subject, he joins the actors in their pantomime, capturing their characters in so few lines that the playwright Terrence McNally wrote: "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."
Hirschfeld’s style stands as one of the most innovative efforts in establishing the visual language of modern art through caricature in the 20th century. Intuitively, he assimilated the graphic sense of both his friends artists John Held and Miguel Covarrubias, the manipulation of perspective of the masters of Japanese woodcuts, Hokusai and Utamaro, and transmuted the negative characteristics of the genre known as caricature in his thumbprint: a joyful, life affirming line. Instead of relying on the outline or profile of his subjects, like many of his early contemporaries, he has employed a palette of graphic symbols (including his daughter's name, Nina, which he began hiding within his work in 1945) to translate the action of the whole body into line drawings that have become the lingua franca of generations of actors and audiences.
When he can, the artist works from life, making sketches and notes in his pad, or during a performance in his pocket. His notes can sometimes resemble a shopping list with descriptions of anatomy like Brillo pad, scrambled eggs, or chicken fricassee. Back in his studio, he collates his notes and sketches with photos to shore up his "faulty memory" and distills them into a graphic design that leaves an indelible imprint on the page.
Hirschfeld’s drawings, paintings, and sculpture give the truest reflection of the man: uncomplicated, engaging and often irreverent. He has opened his studio and archives for this first comprehensive museum retrospective of his work. Beginning with a drawing by the budding 11-year-old artist, this show traces his work through his modern masterpieces and confirms the importance and relevance of Hirschfeld’s view of America. His contributions continue to provide an engaging paradigm for the discussion of artistic innovation and idealism in the performing arts and can be truly experienced in the visually stunning artworks selected for this exhibition.
Hirschfeld’s interest remains in what's going on now, and perhaps what is opening later this season. No matter how we choose to celebrate Hirschfeld, he knows there is a clean cold-pressed illustration board sitting on his drawing table that cares little for what he has done in the past. On it will be his favorite drawing: the one he is working on today.
David Leopold
September 2002
David Leopold is an independent curator who has organized exhibitions for institutions around the country including the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, the Norman Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge, and the James Michener Art Museum. He is the Director of the Studio of Ben Solowey in Bedminster, Pennsylvania. He has been the archivist of Al Hirschfeld’s work for over ten years.
Copyright© 2002 Susquehanna Art Museum