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Albert Hirschfeld (June 21, 1903 – January 20, 2003) was a Jewish
American caricaturist best known for his simple black and white
satirical portraits of celebrities and Broadway stars.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri he moved with his family to New York City
where he received his art training at the Art Students League of New
York. In 1924 he traveled to Paris and London, where he studied
painting, drawing and sculpture. When he returned to the United States
a friend showed one of his drawings to an editor at the New York Herald
Tribune, which got him commissions for that newspaper and The New York
Times.
Hirschfeld's art style is unique, and he is considered to be one of the
most important figures in contemporary caricature, having influenced
countless cartoonists. Hirschfeld's caricatures are almost always
drawings of pure line with simple black ink on white paper with little
to no shading or crosshatching. His drawings always manage to capture a
likeness using the minimum number of lines. Though his caricatures
often exaggerate and distort the faces of his subjects he is often
described as being a fundamentally "nicer" caricaturist than many of
his contemporaries, and being drawn by Hirschfeld was considered an
honor more than an insult. Nonetheless he did face some complaints from
his editors over the years; in a late-1990s interview with The Comics
Journal Hirschfeld recounted how one editor told him his drawings of
Broadway's "beautiful people" looked like "a bunch of animals".
Hirschfeld generally dismissed these complaints, and most observers
would agree that time proved him right.
He was commissioned by CBS to illustrate a preview magazine featuring
the network's new TV programming in fall 1963. One of the programs was
Candid Camera, and Hirschfeld's caricature of the show's host Allen
Funt outraged Funt so much he threatened to leave the network if the
magazine were issued. Hirschfeld prepared a slightly different
likeness, perhaps more flattering, but he and the network pointed out
to Funt that the artwork prepared for newspapers and some other print
media had been long in preparation and it was too late to withdraw it.
Funt relented but insisted that what could be changed would have to be.
Newsweek ran a squib on the controversy.
Hirschfeld is known for hiding the name of his daughter, Nina, in most
of the drawings he produced since her birth in 1945. The name would
appear in a sleeve, in a hairdo, or somewhere in the background.
Sometimes "Nina" would show up more than once and Hirschfeld would
helpfully add a number next to his signature, to let people know how
many times her name would appear. Hirschfeld originally intended the
Nina gag to be a one-time gimmick but it soon spiraled out of control.
Though Nina was a popular feature in his illustrations, with many
enjoying the game of searching for them, on more than one occasion
Hirschfeld would lament that the gimmick had overshadowed his art. On
occasion he did try to discontinue the practice, but such attempts
always generated harsh criticism. Nina herself was reportedly somewhat
ambivalent about all the attention. In the previously mentioned
interview with The Comics Journal Hirschfeld confirmed the urban legend
that the US Army had used his cartoons to train bomber pilots with the
soldiers trying to spot the NINAs much as they would spot their
targets. Hirschfeld told the magazine he found the idea repulsive,
saying that he felt his cartoons were being used to help kill people.
In his 1966 anthology The World of Hirschfeld he included a drawing of
Nina which he titled "Nina's Revenge." That drawing contained no Ninas.
There were, however, two Als and two Dollys ("The names of her wayward
parents").
Hirschfeld collaborated with humorist S. J. Perelman on several
projects, including Westward Ha! Or, Around the World in 80 Clichés, a
satirical look at the duo's travels on assignment for Holiday magazine.
In 1991 the United States Postal Service commissioned Hirschfeld to
draw a series of postage stamps commemorating famous American
comedians. The collection included drawings of Stan Laurel, Oliver
Hardy, Edgar Bergen (with Charlie McCarthy), Jack Benny, Fanny Brice,
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. He followed that with a collection of
silent film stars including Rudolph Valentino, ZaSu Pitts and Buster
Keaton. The Postal Service allowed him to include Nina's name in his
drawings, waiving their own rule forbidding hidden messages in United
States stamp designs.