Al Hirschfeld, the Maker of Icons

"Al Hirschfeld, the Maker of Icons" is an article on the caricaturist of the same name, printed in his book Hirschfeld On Line in 1999. A similar sentiment can be found in Paul Davis' opening remarks to his 1985 collection Faces, for which Vonnegut wrote an introduction.

Summary

Al Hirschfeld, 2000

The human head follows a fairly predictable pattern: hair ("except for baldies"), eyes, nose, mouth, chin, ears sticking out the side, with occasional facial hair. Our faces should be indistinguishable, but we in fact can respond to the slightest of variations, identifying friends, enemies, and lovers several years later from a great distance, even in our crowded modern world. Hirschfeld exploits our "emotional attunement" to human faces with the same skill that Mozart used noise. Both had the gift of seeing "stars in a freak show".

Mozart was lucky to live when there were musicians capable of playing what he wrote and audiences, especially aristocrats, who could appreciate it. Hirschfeld lives at a time when actors, singers, and other celebrities are themselves viewed as works of art. Using pen and ink, he shows us what about these icons' faces "triggers our love". What prevents his work from being mere celebrity worship, aside from his artistic skill, is that somehow he always captures "the glorious baloney of theatricality" which is found in all times and places.