Monday, March 08, 2010

All the worlds a caricature

Monday Cartoon Day.

Last week, I hadn't managed to scan in all of my Hirschfeld Mercury covers. So here's the rest of them. A rare look at Hirschfeld's color work. I am still hoping for more books collecting Hirschfeld's fifty year long output. How about a book of reviews combined with his excellent stage scenes. As a theatre student I would love to have such an historic document. To have the first reviews of Waiting for Godot together with Hirschfeld's group scene (if there was any)...?

Sept 1945:


Oct 1945:


Nov 1945:


Dec 1945:


sept 1949:


Oct 1949:


Nov 1949:


Dec 1949:


Jan 1950:


Feb 1950:


March 1950:


April 1950:


July 1950:


As I said last time, at one point during Hirschfeld's run, his place was taken by the cartoon editor. My guess is, he didn't finish his own contribution in time, due to his busy schedule and rising fame. Still, whatever the reason, Hirschfeld complaied and retunred to the covers himself. Maybe the curator for the Hirschfeld museum, who posted a reply the last time I displayed some Hirschfeld material, can chime in.

From July 1947:

2 comments:

Runs.with.Ferals said...

Love the straight forward design of these covers. Thanx for sharing, Ger~!

DLeopold said...

I just ran across this post nearly two years after it was posted. Great material that is not widely known. We hope to do a show of this work sometime in the near future. As for the Hirschfeld hiatus, it was not because of his rising fame and inability to meet deadlines. Hirschfeld always met his deadlines as he had a very solid work ethic. and by 1947, he had been working for more than 25 years and was justly celebrated early and often for his accomplishments. No, the reason he did not draw covers in 1947 is that he was traveling around the world with S.J. Perelman illustrating articles by the humorist about their travels that were later collected in the book, WESTWARD HA! (Or Around the World in 80 Cliches).

If you want to see more AMERICAN MERCURY covers or pieces from Westward Ha!, visit www.alhirschfeldfoundation.com.