I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit that I didn’t recognize Al Hirschfeld‘s name when my coworker Claude mentioned he’d died–it was familiar, but I couldn’t come up with the association to the artwork he’d created across nine decades. But when I saw his picture of Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood in City Heat in the paper, I knew exactly who he was–given only a quick glance, his drawings are as identifiable as those of Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) or Charles Addams.
Given the revelation above, I’ll leave the accolades to Some Who Know:
He always knew precisely how to lay it down, and how to contour and bold it just so, the better to denote not only the look of his subject but some perceptive, vital quirk of personality or posture.
How the hell does he do that? How does he get the essence of a person down so perfectly with linework that has next-to-no literal resemblance to the person he’s drawing? How does he know the exactly perfect place each line goes?
