Hirschfeld, Al

Hirschfeld, Al (Albert Hirschfeld) hûrshˈfĕld [key], 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.

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

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

See more Encyclopedia articles on: American and Canadian Art: Biographies