Hirschfeld's New York

by Frank Rich, Al Hirschfeld, Clare Bell

Remarkable for their movement and expression, conveyed with only a few well-placed stokes of a pen, the drawings of Al Hirschfeld have beguiled the American public for nearly 80 years. His images range from the Broadway theatre to the broader cultural and political life of New York City which have occupied the artist's imagination for his entire adult life.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0810929740
• ISBN13: 9780810929746
• Release Date: October 2001
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 1.02 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 9.0" x 10.0"
• Age Range: 13 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 8 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

charming book

I bought this book to give as a gift and was primarily interested in the "Nina" drawings. Most of the reviews said there were lots of them, and there were a fair amount. Obviously, before his daughter was born, there weren't any, and this book covers a broad time span. All in all, the book is a good representation of Hirschfeld's work of the NY entertainment scene.

Look at this as an investment

Buy this book. It's very very cheap. If you stop and visit online book sellers as Alibris or even Abe books, you'll find out that the average price for Hirschfeld's books is 200 dollars. They are all out of print now (except for Hirschfeld Online) and one day, this one will be too. So do yourself a favor: if not because the guy is a genius and the illustrations are all spectacular, buy this book because you are a smart investor.

Genius in a bottle of ink

When my son was seven, he used to eagerly check the arts and leisure section of the Sunday New York Times each weekend to see if there was a new drawing by the "Nina Man". If there was, there would follow an intense exploration of the drawing, usually followed by a crow of delight, "I found the Ninas!" The "Nina Man" is, of course, Al Hirschfeld, still merrily among us at 99, and Nina is the name of is daughter, ingeniously hidden among the pen strokes of whichever person he was caricaturing. Hirschfeld is, purely and simply, a genius; a simple drawing brings out not only a person but a persona. The drawings in the book represent some of the best of his work, which spans six decades; and although the caricatures are named at the foot of the pages, the reader will have a lot of fun not only recognizing who the people are without the help of the captions, but also -- yes -- in searching for and finding the Ninas.