Al Hirschfeld Last Drawing. The Hirschfeld Century. From the edition of 150 NA.
Al Hirschfeld combined black and white linear drawing with portraiture to develop one of the most innovative and iconic visual languages. Al Hirschfelds drawings that he creates from a barbers chair in his Manhattan loft captivated readers of The New York Times and other publications by catching the essence of his actor subjects. Often his caricatures seemed more real than the people they portrayed.
After the 1945 birth of his daughter Nina Hirschfeld started his most notable eccentricity.
I once had the opportunity to sit with Hirschfeld and draw him as he himself worked on a commissioned self-portrait. Al Hirschfelds drawings that he creates from a barbers chair in his Manhattan loft captivated readers of The New York Times and other publications by catching the essence of his actor subjects. They needed their headshots done as caricatures BUT in the style of my favourite caricaturist of all time. The Al Hirschfeld Theatre was thus named June 21 2003 which would have been his 100th birthday.
