Caricature (Al Hirschfeld)

Caricature by Robert Genn

[img]http://www.painterskeys.com/clickbacks/hirschfeld_self.jpg[/img]In 1926 a young man by the name of Al Hirschfeld sketched a
caricature of an actor on a theatre program while attending a New
York performance. A friend convinced him to copy it onto a clean
sheet of paper and submit it to a newspaper. Thus was born one
of the great caricaturists--more than 7000 published drawings, and
a career that lasted until his death at 99 in 2003. Hirschfeld, who
studied art in Paris and New York, had noted how sunlight
bleached out colour and turned people into what he
called ?walking line drawings.? He later recalled how he
became ?enchanted with line? and began to use a unique style of
simple, flowing lines to capture a personality or a performance.

See Hirschfeld's art at: http://www.painterskeys.com/clickbacks/fineartsschool.asp#al_hirschfeld

Hirschfeld?s method of working was to ?find? the essential
characteristics of a face, body language or gesture by trial and
error with a pencil. Only when he thought it to be right did he
finish in ink. It?s amazing, when you think of it--you can pick a
familiar face out of a crowd, even after many years. Something
distinguishes every face--it?s actually surprising there aren?t more
look-alikes. The point is it?s often difficult to distinguish just what
that difference is. Hirschfeld knew that his job was to find that
elusive something--simply, directly. The system of caricature is to
take prominent, unique characteristics and emphasize them.
There?s a valuable tip for fine artists that lies in this process.
Artists ought to look at their subject matter and attempt to extract
a greater truth from what is seen. Beauty more beautiful, colour
more colourful, gesture more gestural, elegance more elegant,
solidity more solid, drama more dramatic. A wonky building can be
made more wonky, a struggling tree more overwhelmed with
struggle, a sad-faced person more excruciatingly sad.

Marquee lights across Broadway dimmed in Hirschfeld?s memory
after word spread that he had died in his sleep. Shortly afterward,
the Martin Beck Theatre on 45th Street was renamed the Al
Hirschfeld Theatre. You can see his caricature of himself in lights
on the marquee.

"Life isn?t a science. We make it up as we go." (Al Hirschfeld, 1903-2003)

Esoterica: When his daughter Nina was born in 1945 he secretly
wove her name into a few drawings as a celebration of her birth.
After a while the public demanded that he keep it up, and he did.
Many drawings have ?Nina? buried in a curl of hair, the fold of a
dress, the crook of an arm. Al Hirschfeld discovered it, and you can
profit by it if you choose--the public eats up insider personality
indulgences.

more articles by Robert Genn: http://www.painterskeys.com/lettersarchive.asp?2004