The Fabuleous Fifties

Hirschfeld at Collier's

Monday cartoon day.

Between 1952 and 1954 Al Hirschfeld illustrated a column about show business for Collier's. Every week he did one or two illustrations, often with several caricatures. I am still scanning some of that stuff in, so I won't be showing it before the end of the month. But in the meantime, here are two larger illustrations he did for an article about a famous New York eatery. These do not only show Hirschfeld's wonderful caricatures, but also his sense of composition. He really was a master at this work.

What really surprises me about some of these caricatures, is how he was able to do them from different angles. You can see the same thing in some of the caricatures in my last post. Here it is visible in his caricature of Fred Allen. He had 'done' Allen before from a completely different angle. Most caricatures only exist in a three quarter's side view. But his seem almost easy to animate. Mort Drucker has the same ability, although I get the impression he starts every caricature anew. That way, a character can look completely different is he is seen from another side. Not with Hirschfeld. He almost 'sees' his caricatures in a three dimensional way.