Following is an article by the curators of a new Library exhibition, "Stagestruck: Performing Arts Caricatures at the Library of Congress."
Al Jolson in The Wonder Bar by Oscar Cesare, published in The New York Times, March 29, 1931
During the early 20th century, performing arts caricature came of age as an art form in the United States as celebrities of song, stage and screen were transformed into popular icons of American culture. Caricatures played a prominent role in the dramatic rise in circulation enjoyed by numerous popular magazines and daily newspapers after 1900, when a new generation of cartoonists and illustrators transformed famous faces into vivid likenesses that set the standard for future creators.
Influenced by American precedents, European traditions and modern art, experienced artists found their talents in high demand as publishers vied for their services. Magazines such as the American Vanity Fair and The New Yorker devoted considerable space to caricatures of well-known dancers, singers, actors and actresses, while major newspapers in New York, Philadelphia and elsewhere also began to reproduce theatrical drawings. The artists themselves became celebrities: "At the present moment, Miguel Covarrubias is about as well known in New York as it would be possible for anyone to be," performing arts critic Carl Van Vechten wrote in 1925. Al Hirschfeld, whose brilliant career spans eight decades, has been lionized for his unprecedented contributions to the history of theatrical caricature.
Mae West by Miguel Covarrubias, between 1923 and 1957
The artists' styles are as varied as their subjects. Oliver Herford, born in Sheffield, England, drew heavily from the contemporary European modes of caricature exemplified in the pages of British journals such as the London Vanity Fair and Punch. Kenneth Chamberlain learned his trade in New York from the influential political cartoonist Robert Minor, and Oscar Cesare was trained in Paris and exposed to the work of the great French poster artists. Cesare's successor at The New York Times, Al Hirschfeld, found inspiration in the work of Miguel Covarrubias, who in turn was informed by both modernist abstraction and strong Mexican traditions in caricature. The work of Makoto Wada reveals in its delicate draftsmanship and luminosity a debt to the legacy of Asian art. Their differences aside, all of these artists became masters of the genre and their drawings offer object lessons in artistry, wit and the history of the performing arts in America.
Oscar Cesare (1885-1948) drew theatrical caricatures for The New York Times at a time when Al Hirschfeld was just beginning his career at the newspaper. A skilled and versatile cartoonist and illustrator, Cesare used diverse styles to create his images. For example, his realistic portrayal of Al Jolson on stage in The Wonder Bar captures the smoky atmosphere of the nightclub setting.
After five years away from the stage, Al Jolson's (1886-1950) appearance in The Wonder Bar, which opened at the Bayes Theatre in March 1931, inspired one reviewer to exclaim, "Al Jolson is back." This "festive little novelty of musical hall entertainment" featured Jolson "down on the knees, gleaming into the spotlights, clapping hands and snapping fingers, rocking jubilantly from side to side -- so, with the old dynamics, he sings a new sheaf of songs." During the 1930s, like many other stage actors of the period, Jolson made the transition to radio and film to garner a wider audience.
John Sloan (1871-1951) was a prominent member of the turn-of-the-century artists' group known as the "Eight" and a leader in developing the urban realist style of painting that came to be called the "Ashcan School." During his career, Sloan produced several etchings related to the theater, drawn from actual productions. In a letter to James Light of the Provincetown Players, he described his reaction to an e.e. cummings play: "Him is about as thrilling an evening's entertainment as I have ever experienced. I liked it thoroughly -- I don't claim to understand it -- I do not believe that a work of art can be, nor need be, understood, even by its maker. It seemed to me to be a glimpse inside the cranium of an artist-poet."
Left, Hemsley Williams and Goldye Steiner in Frankie and Johnny [sic] from Him, by John Sloan, 1928; right, Bendiner's caricature of Raymond Massey in the title role of Robert E. Sherwood's 1938 stage hit Abe Lincoln in Illinois.
Poet e.e. cummings (1894-1962) provided a mixture of philosophy and burlesque in his satirical play, Him. Here, John Sloan captures Hemsley Williams and Goldye Steiner -- the performers on the night he caught the show -- in a syncopated rendition of the popular folk tune "Frankie and Johnnie," from Act II, Scene 5. In the song, Frankie killed Johnnie (spellings of the name vary widely), for taking another lover. Cummings portrayed the scene symbolically with the female figure representing the ground in which "Johnie" (cummings's spelling), represented by a doll, is buried. In spite of the violent plot, one reviewer called the scene "the climax in hilarity" at the Provincetown Theatre in spring 1928. An excerpt from cummings's rendition of the old song goes: "Frankie and Johnie were lovers/sweet Christ how they could love/they swore to be true to each other/ as true as the stars above/but he was a man/and he done her wrong."
Although Alfred Bendiner (1899-1964) trained and worked as an architect for most of his life, he also established a reputation as an artist, a print maker and a caricaturist. In 1991, the Library of Congress received a large portion of his personal collection, including works that reflect the full scope of his achievements, from student drawings he created while attending the School of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1920s to caricatures and theatrical reviews published in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, and lithographs exhibited at print shows in Philadelphia and New York in the 1950s and 1960s.
Fats Waller at the Piano, by Oliver W. Harrington, ca. 1940
Bendiner's caricature of Raymond Massey in the title role of Robert E. Sherwood's 1938 stage hit Abe Lincoln in Illinois boldly captures the actor's brooding essence. New York Times drama critic Brooks Atkinson praised Massey's "exalted performance," in which he "plays it with an artless honesty that is completely overwhelming at the end." A "nervously overwrought" Muriel Kirkland played Mary Todd Lincoln in the production, which opened at the Plymouth Theatre in October 1938.
Bendiner also caricatured the French-born opera singer and film star Lily Pons (1898-1976), who came to the United States in 1930 and quickly captivated audiences with her wondrously high vocal range and vivacious personality, and Bendiner's fluid caricature depicts the Russian-born violinist Jascha Heifetz (1901-1987) in performance.
Miguel Covarrubias (1904-1957) arrived in New York City in 1923 on a scholarship from the Mexican government and quickly gained a reputation as an accomplished caricaturist. His skilled and critical eye, often attributed to New York influences, was developed in Mexico, where, by the age of 18, he had contributed illustrations to popular Latin American newspapers. During the 1920s and 1930s he became one of the most widely published and admired caricaturists in America.
Mae West (1893-1980) began her vaudeville career as a child and made her playwriting debut in 1926 with Sex, for which she was arrested on obscenity charges. Her openness about her sexuality caused her censure as well as enhanced her popular appeal with film and stage audiences. Covarrubias's sketch demonstrates his profound influence on Al Hirschfeld.
Witches' Lair from backstage at Dark of the Moon by Kenneth Chamberlain, ca. 1945
Kenneth Chamberlain (1891-1984) came to New York from Ohio in 1913 and quickly made his mark as a cartoonist for daily newspapers as well as the socialist monthly The Masses. Chamberlain drew theatrical illustrations for the New York Herald Tribune that revealed his gift for using untraditional means to convey the essence of a play. Rather than show principal actors or a specific scene, he gave the audience a glimpse of the scene backstage, like a magician revealing a rival's sleight of hand.
Dark of the Moon by Howard Richardson and William Berney played to audiences at the Forty-Sixth Street Theatre in 1945. This musical rendition of the Barbara Allen legend, a supernatural tale of love and betrayal, takes place in the Smokey Mountains.
The Japanese cartoonist, caricaturist, illustrator, author and film director Makoto Wada (b. 1936) was born in Osaka. He trained at the Tama College of Art in Tokyo and later joined the staff of the Light Publicity Co. In 1965 he founded and served as art director of Hanashi no Tokushu, a magazine of political satire. He has also written and illustrated numerous books and articles and, since 1984, directed several theatrical films.
Legendary jazz virtuoso Louis Armstrong (1901-1971, pictured ) lit up the music world for half a century with his brilliant trumpet trills, dazzling vocals, signature white handkerchief and incandescent smile. His international reputation and universally lamented death in 1971 sparked a glowing graphic tribute by Wada.
John Drew by Alfred Frueh, published in Stage Folk (New York: Lieber and Lewis), 1922!
American caricaturist, cartoonist and comic strip artist Alfred Frueh (pronounced "free") discovered his professional calling as a youth while taking a course in Pitman's shorthand. According to the artist's account, when bored with the lesson, he would transform the shorthand symbols into caricatures of his teacher and fellow classmates. Frueh began his career in 1904 as a cartoonist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and achieved national recognition in 1907 for his caricature of music hall star Fritzi Scheff, which so offended her that she canceled her St. Louis performance. His masterly portfolio of theatrical portraits, Stage Folk (1922), offers a brilliant blend of representational and abstract caricature.
Leading turn-of-the-century American stage actor John Drew (1853-1927) was popular with audiences and caricaturists alike. His features, and performances, seemed carved in stone, as Al Frueh (1880-1968) so cleverly suggests in his graphic ode to Drew's celebrity. Not to be outdone, Oliver Herford, known as "the American Oscar Wilde," produced his own witty spin on the famous thespian's popular appeal for a series called "Celebrities I Have Not Met," published in American Magazine in 1913.
Cartoonist and illustrator Oliver W. Harrington (1913-1996) was the first African American to establish an international reputation in the field, and his work has influenced two generations of graphic artists. From the 1930s into the 1960s, his regular cartoon panel, Dark Laughter, featuring a middle-aged black man in Harlem named "Bootsie," articulated with wit and irony the social concerns of urban blacks. In 1958, the poet Langston Hughes wrote, "As a social satirist in the field of race relations, Ollie Harrington is unsurpassed."
American caricaturist, sculptor, painter and writer Al Hirschfeld (b. 1903) was born in St. Louis. Following his early training in art at schools in New York, London and Paris, he began his remarkable newspaper career in the 1920s and it continues unabated. His first theatrical drawing appeared in the New York Herald Tribune in 1926. Most readers, however, associate him with The New York Times, in which his caricatures have appeared regularly since 1929, when he was hired as a theater caricaturist for the Sunday drama section, a position he maintains to this day. His caricatures have appeared in numerous other publications including the New York World, the Brooklyn Eagle, the Daily Telegraph, New Masses and Collier's. He also co-edited a satirical journal, Americana, with Alexander King in the early 1930s and has written and illustrated many books.
Ira Gershwin, by Albert Hirschfeld, published in Seventeen, March 1947
Ira Gershwin (1896-1983) wrote the lyrics to some of the most memorable American show tunes of the 20th century, including "I Got Rhythm," "Embraceable You" and "Someone to Watch Over Me." With his brother George (1898-1937), and alone after George's death, he created a magnificent musical legacy that lives on in the George and Ira Gershwin Collection, preserved within the Library of Congress.
This small exhibition offers a glimpse of the incomparable collections of caricature and other performing arts images in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library. The Library will continue to acquire and preserve these materials so they can be enjoyed by generations to come.
