Remembering Al Hirschfeld: The King of Caricatures in Action
This amazing rare video shows illustrator Al Hirschfeld in action drawing a caricature of Paul Newman. Hirschfeld was born on this day in 1903 and lived to be 99 years old (he passed away in 2003). His legacy of drawing Broadway stars was so strong that they named a theater after him, and he honored his only daughter Nina by sneaking her name into each illustration (often doing it several times). What’s amazing to me about this video is that it was shot when Hirschfeld was 99 years old, yet the detail and quality of his draftsmanship looked as good as ever.
After seeing this video I was curious to see if I could find that drawing of Newman, while I didn’t find it I did come across this previous caricature from 1998. Sadly Paul Newman would pass away ten years later, but this portrait by Hirschfeld does a great job of summing up a fine actor:
