Al Hirschfeld (1903 – 2003)
The King and I
14 3/4 x 30 inches
Ink on board
Signed lower right
From the original production published in The New York Times on March 25, 1951. The drawing features Gertrude Lawrence and Yul Brynner.

A note from the Creative Director of The Al Hirschfeld Foundation Not only is this an iconic work of Hirschfeld’s, it is one that he personally selected to be in several of his books. It has even richer Hirschfeld connection. When Al and Sid Perelman traveled the world in 1947 for Westward Ha! they landed in Siam and were invited to the palace. There they saw court dances. Hirschfeld, a home movie buff, asked if he could film the dances, which had been rarely seen in the west. After his return to NY, when he heard that R&H were doing a musical about Siam, he invited them and Jerry Robbins up to his studio to see his footage. I can’t say for certain anything that Robbins saw ended up in The King and I, but it is likely. Certainly the choreography was something that Hirschfeld focused on in his drawing.

BIO:
Albert Hirschfeld became famous for his personality caricatures of theater people, pen and ink work he did in his position as Theatre Caricaturist for The New York Times. He earned 23 awards including in 1984 a special Tony Award, which was a sign that the theater world welcomed him as one of their own. His work also appeared in other newspapers and books, and in 1996, a film documentary of his life titled The Line King, was nominated for an Academy Award. That same year Hirschfeld was named one of six New York City Landmarks by the New York Landmarks Conservancy.

He was a familiar figure at first-night openings, and rehearsals, and he perfected a method of making a sketch in the dark. To be one of his subjects was regarded as a special honor, and feelings of triumph often were felt by his followers who found the word “Nina” in his work. Nina was the name of his daughter, and he would hide the name in the lines of his caricatures.

Hirschfield was born in St. Louis. In New York, where he moved when he was 12 years old with his family, he studied at the Art Students League. At age 18, he became an art director for David O Selznick, the motion-picture producer, and then moved to Warner Bros.

In 1924, he went to Europe and in Paris attended the Academy Julian where he studied painting, sculpture, and drawing. During a trip to Bali, where the intense sun bleached out all color and “reduced people to walking line drawings” as he later said, he developed his life-long interest in drawing.

He married Dolly Haas, an actress, and after her death in 1994, he married Louise Kerz, a museum curator and research historian.

Additional images and details are available from hello@HeliclineFineArt.com