By Jessica Davis, JTNews Correspondent
Mostly known for his theatrical drawings of Broadway openings, Al Hirschfeld had a knack for line. He said things succinctly with his drawings, communicating volumes in a single stroke. Movement is a key element in his work, with a just-drawn look.
“In Line with Al Hirschfeld: A Retrospective,” on view at Seattle’s Frye Art Museum through April 20, is the first museum retrospective documenting Hirschfeld’s life and career. Although the exhibit was three years in the making, it’s coincidence that it came to town right after Hirschfeld’s death.
Hirschfeld, nicknamed “the legend of line” was born in St. Louis, Missouri on June 21, 1903 and died Jan. 20, 2003. He was 99 years old at the time of his death. Hirschfeld’s work has become familiar to most Americans through his many years as an illustrator for The New York Times, where he worked one month shy of 75 years. He did work for several other high profile publications as well.
“I think like all great art, his work was timeless,” said David Leopold, the exhibit’s curator and Hirschfeld’s archivist for the last 13 years. “Everything influenced him, but nothing in particular.”
The five-year-old touring exhibit is comprised of approximately 100 works from Hirschfeld’s own collection, including pen and ink drawings, oil on board, sketchbooks, clippings, watercolors, sculpture, prints and magazine covers.
“This show has a life of its own,” said Leopold. “Institutions have always wanted it.”
The retrospective covers Hirschfeld’s early works from Paris and North Africa, as well as his works from Bali where his love affair with line began. As a teenager, Hirschfeld lived and studied art in New York City.
During the 1930s, Hirschfeld’s job was to capture the essence of plays prior to opening night. He made sketches and notations of entertainers at rehearsals to remind him of what they looked like. His drawings were sketched out first in pencil and then in ink with erased pencil marks.
“To be a Hirschfeld was a sign that one had arrived,” said Leopold, who has catalogued more than 8,000 pieces of art by Hirschfeld. “He really is the logo of popular culture.”
After Hirschfeld’s daughter was born in 1945, he began to pen her name into the background of his theatrical drawings. The flowing lines of “N I N A” were occasionally hidden in the folds of drapery or in strands of hair. Now 57 years old, Nina is a housewife and mother of two living in Austin, Texas.
Nina’s mom was Dolly Haas, Hirschfeld’s second wife and one of the greatest stars of the German cinema. Her debut at 18 was in a film titled Dolly’s Way to Stardom. American audiences may recognize her from Alfred Hitchcock’s movie I Confess.
Although not Jewish herself, she was repulsed by her country’s treatment of Jews and left Germany in 1933, spending several years in England before coming to America in 1937. She wed Hirschfeld in 1943.
Much like Haas, Hirschfeld was not a person that saw categories or boundaries, said Leopold.
“He never lost the sense of being Jewish,” said Leopold. “He embraced life, and part of his life was his Jewishness.”
Hirschfeld’s parents observed major Jewish holidays. His father was a second-generation American and his mother an immigrant from Russia. When Hirschfeld went to Russia in 1936, he looked up some of his mother’s relatives and was surprised to find newspaper clippings of his work all over their walls. As an adult, Hirschfeld attended Passover seders with his friends and lived down the street from a synagogue. He also went on one of the first cruise ships to Israel.
He continued to draw in his studio after hearing about the terrorist attack to America on Sept. 11. “He always saw the good in life. Nothing ruffled him,” said Leopold. “He loved to draw.”
“I think his drawings are an active reflection of who he was,” said Leopold. “There are no other Hirschfelds.”
“In Line with Al Hirschfeld: A Retrospective” was organized by the Katonah Museum of Art in Katonah, N.Y. The exhbition is circulated by the Studio of Ben Solowey in Bedminster, Penn.
“In Line with Al Hirschfeld: A Retrospective,” will be on display through April 20 at the Frye Art Museum, located at 704 Terry Ave., Seattle. Admission is free. Free parking. Call 206-622-9250 or visit www.fryeart.org.