The artist eye. We get a true glimpse of the modern artist Hirschfeld in this factual account of his start and how he came to prominence. Based in and around the theater,his portraits were the stuff of delight by his subjects. He rose to fame in a time luckily where his talents were recognized and capitalized. A devoted father and interesting husband. His friends accepted his as artist and sometime recluse. Forever chronicles of his subjects were cherished and in time worth a great deal of money. A subject often forgotten by the artist and indulged by his family.

While the first few chapters of this biography suffer under the dragging weight of too much exposition, it quickly clicks into exploration and excavation of a man everyone in theatre has heard of, but who is rarely known. Unquestionably the premiere text on Hirshfield's life, this updated edition is a gem.

Hirschfeld is an enjoyable read - he lived such an incredibly colorful life full of adventure. I enjoyed learning more about this enigmatic man famous for his line drawings of celebrities featured everywhere. There are lots of great quotes and interviews from many famous people in this book and I was amazed at the breadth of his friendships and network. His daughter, Nina's name was often included in his drawings as hidden lines. Who knew some had 44 "Nina;" spelled out in the drawing-- you have to read the book to find out who. Nina's life was unfortunately full of drama and so the result is a balanced view of Hirschfeld as a father, friend, husband.

I recommend this book.

In HIRSCHFELD, Ellen Stern digs deep into the life of a one-of-a-kind artist who is known by most, but understood by few. Stern goes into detail about Hirschfeld's upbringing, his early successes before he began creating his reknowned caricatures and as much as is possible, she looks at his personal life with his wives, his daughter Nina, and his grandkids.
Using lots of letters, journals, and general correspondence, Stern works hard to uncover the mind of the artist that was Al Hirschfeld. With a life as full as Hirschfeld's was, Stern entertains the reader throughout by recreating his adventures travelling, meeting all sorts of famous people, and she even devotes a good amount of time to his failed attempt to create a musical. The reader gets the feel that while the book is sprinkled throughout with great quotes and general thoughts from many theater artists and celebrities, that Stern did a good job of using those tidbits to further her narrative, not just throw them in for shock value. There is a few times in the book when Stern presents contradictory thoughts on a particular event and it was difficult to discern whether she was baffled as to the truth herself, or she purposely presented both sides hoping the reader would decide the truth for themselves.
Hirschfeld's impact on theater, as well as the entertainment community, is overwhelming and there is nary a broadway artist or fan that doesn't know his name. In Ellen Stern's HIRSCHFELD, she does good job of revealing the man behind the art: his family, his motives, and his legacy which began long before his death.

I loved this book.
In this marvelous biography, Ellen Stern details the life of a man who was as glorious and unique as his caricatures.
One could not help but be attracted by his style with lines of crow quill pen and India ink highlighting the faces and personalities of actors, musician, politicians and the stars that would light the skies above Broadway.
The man behind the old oak drawing board, lived to the age of 99. He was a husband (x3) and a father to his infamous daughter Nina, a piano player and the creator of an unsuccessful musical.
St. Louis born, Hirschfeld lived throughout the world; Bali, London, Moscow, Paris and his beloved New York City. Interested in art from a very young age, he worked seven days a week in his pink Manhattan townhouse studio. He entertained with dinner parties twice weekly, hosted fabulous New Year’s Eve parties and his friends included Gloria Vanderbilt, Carol Channing, Betty Comden and Elia Kazan; to mention a few.
In 2003, the Martin Beck Theater on West 45th Street was renamed the Al Hirschfeld Theater. Hirschfeld passed prior to the renaming of the theater but was aware that he would be receiving this recognition. His self-portrait illuminates the theaters marquee, a well deserved honor for the man who paid his illustrated tributes to so many for over 75 years.
Thank you NetGalley, Ellen Stern and Farrah Strauss and Giroux for an ARC in exchange for an honest book review.

I'm a fan of Al Hirschfeld and admire the exhausting background info provided by Ellen Stern however I could not get past all the names mentioned in this book. There must be thousands. Al seemed to have his hand in many Broadway shows and I never knew that. He was a wonderfully unique artist calling his drawings characterists.
I found the NINA chapters really fun as Al would insert his daughters name into his drawings after 1945 (when she was born,

Fans will love this book of an era long gone,
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC