Al Hirschfeld is one of the greatest caricaturists ever to have put pen to paper, and this monumental retrospective is a testament to his genius. From '30s icons like actors Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontaine to the stars of Seinfeld, Hirschfeld's fluid line has limned some of the most enduring images of our favorite entertainers. The collection opens with a biographical essay by New York Times writer Mel Gussow that sketches the arc of Hirschfeld's career and the development of his reputation as a chronicler of American show business. Additional essays by Arthur Miller, Kurt Vonnegut, Whoopi Goldberg, and Hirschfeld's daughter Nina cast further light on the artist, but the bulk of the book is, of course, given over to his wonderful drawings. Hirschfeld has written that it is his aim to capture character, rather than caricature, and each of the hundreds of images reproduced here encapsulates its subject perfectly, without ever resorting to cruelty. After more than six decades, Hirschfeld has recorded the careers of generations of performers, and this collection further illuminates his work by including comments on each drawing by the artist himself, providing a delightful personal history of Broadway, Hollywood, and all points in between. --Simon Leake


From Library Journal
Broadway and Al Hirschfeld are as inextricably linked as Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, the Marx Brothers, or Stella and Stanley Kowalski?a Hirschfeld drawing elevates both artist and image to the status of cultural icon. The 500-plus drawings, paintings, and photographs selected for this celebratory jewel span Hirschfeld's 70-year (and counting) career and are a moveable feast of art and theater history. In addition to laudatory tributes by Mel Gussow, Arthur Miller, the one-and-only Nina, and others, Hirschfeld himself provides delightful insight and commentary on most of the drawings, dishing up annecdotes, quips, and bon mots that would have made best friend S.J. Perelman proud. Regretfully, a 32-page section of full-color photographs was not available for review. For anyone who cares a whit for the theater, has ever perused the theater pages of the New York Times, or assiduously tried to find each and every hidden "Nina," this treasure chest of Broadway booty is an unmitigated joy.?Barry X. Miller, Austin Public Lib., TXCopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


The New York Times Book Review, Leila Hadley
Hirschfeld on Line contains more than 400 drawings, paintings and photographs, augmented by [Al] Hirshfeld's own joyous, illuminating and often droll commentary.


The New Yorker
...a historic work of droll, generous-minded theatre criticism.


Book Description
Over 400 Hirschfeld drawings and photographs - many never before collected. Includes essays by Whoopi Goldberg, Arthur Miller, Mel Gussow, Kurt Vonnegut, Grace Mirabella, Louise Kerz Hirschfeld and more! Commentary by Hirschfeld throughout.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Hirschfeld On Line is just that - it's Al Hirschfeld "on" Hirschfeld, as the master turns his quick quill pen to prose in order to comment, critique, explicate, and occasionally even lampoon his own artwork, from the very first theatre drawings he did in the mid-Twenties up to (nearly) last week. Here is Hirschfeld on the dramatic and droll stories behind his scenes, as well as those of the Broadway stages he's covered graphically since the American theatre came of age with O'Neill and Show Boat. Here are his most famous and enduring imageslike that one of Liza Minnelli in Cabaret, or that long-striding one of Robert Preston in The Music Man, or that one of, well, the list - the distinguished line - goes on and on. He tells us at long last not only why he draws but what and how he has drawn it. For those who've missed the past seventy-five years of opening nights on Broadway and would like to catch up, this is the book for them. For those who would like a pictorial summation of our time - from the early, "hopeful" years of Soviet Russia to the final, cynical episode of Seinfeld, this book is for them. And for those who would just like to know how and why Al Hirschfeld started putting all those NINAs into each and every one of his drawings - and why no power on earth can now grant him leave to cease and desist - this book is essential.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

Broadway and Al Hirschfeld are as inextricably linked as Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, the Marx Brothers, or Stella and Stanley Kowalski--a Hirschfeld drawing elevates both artist and image to the status of cultural icon. The 500-plus drawings, paintings, and photographs selected for this celebratory jewel span Hirschfeld's 70-year (and counting) career and are a moveable feast of art and theater history. In addition to laudatory tributes by Mel Gussow, Arthur Miller, the one-and-only Nina, and others, Hirschfeld himself provides delightful insight and commentary on most of the drawings, dishing up annecdotes, quips, and bon mots that would have made best friend S.J. Perelman proud. For anyone who cares a whit for the theater, has ever perused the theater pages of The New York Times, or assiduously tried to find each and every hidden "Nina," this treasure-chest of Broadway booty is an unmitigated joy. -- Barry X. Miller, Austin Public Library, Texas

Leila Hadley

...[C]ontains more than 400 drawings, paintings and photographs, augmented by Hirschfeld's own joyous, illuminating and often droll commentary. -- The New York Times Book Review

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