The Al Hirschfeld Foundation Presents HIRSCHFELD'S MUSIC Encore At City Winery, November 20

The Al Hirschfeld Foundation continues its HIRSCHFELD'S MUSIC relationship with City Winery (25 11th Ave, NYC) on November 20 with a special live event featuring David Leopold, an exhibition of Hirschfeld artwork, and a new series of rock and pops star wine featuring labels by Hirschfeld.

 

On Monday, November 20 at 7:30PM, David Leopold, Creative Director of The Al Hirschfeld Foundation, will be center stage to celebrate “Hirschfeld's Music” with a live multimedia presentation. Leopold will take attendees on a sensational tour through decades of musical history as seen by the artist. See how Hirschfeld helped Duke Ellington deal with racism on his first national tours, or when he got Satchmo's trumpet. See what happens when he hangs out with Aerosmith in the recording studio and who he meets at a Benny Goodman rehearsal in 1932. For this first time, Hirschfeld's nine decades of music is covered in a presentation featuring rarely seen images as well and old favorites. Whether that music was onstage at the Apollo, on a Broadway stage, a recording studio, or an after-hour jam session, Hirschfeld caught the essence of the players and the scene in a line as supple and rhythmic as any one he heard. Hirschfeld's drawings and prints give viewers, then and now, a real sense of the performance and personality of the music and the musicians. To purchase tickets for the November 20 presentation, click HERE.

 

The live event coincides with a new, free exhibit on display at City Winery Gallery, New York. Hirschfeld's nine decades of music art will be on display, depicting some of the most iconic musicians of the 20th Century. From Louis Armstrong to Neil Young; from Gershwin to the Grateful Dead; and from Quincy Jones to the Rolling Stones, Hirschfeld caught the essence of the artists and the scene in a line as supple and rhythmic as any one he heard.

 

Artwork on display in the exhibition is available for purchase HERE. Proceeds support the Hirschfeld Arts Curriculum program.

 

The City Winery Gallery is part of the new City Winery flagship location at Pier 57 in Hudson River Park. The exhibition space is dedicated to artwork created by or inspired by musicians demonstrating their prolific additional talents. Previous exhibits have included Aimee Mann, Joseph Arthur, Will Livingston and most recently a photo exhibit by Graham Nash.

 

The celebration of “Hirschfeld's Music” extends with the debut of 12 collectable wine bottles labeled with Hirschfeld portraits of legendary musicians, and available exclusively from at City Winery starting in September. Artists featured include Mick Jagger, The Grateful Dead, Aerosmith, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Diana Ross, John Lennon, Prince, Crosby Stills & Nash, and Alicia Keys.

 

“We are delighted to be working with City Winery to share Al Hirschfeld's love of music, says David Leopold, Creative Director of the Al Hirschfeld Foundation. “Hirschfeld was a serious hot jazz fan in his youth, and he never lost his passion for music throughout his whole life. One of his first jobs was as a song plugger on the night boat to Albany. He drew so many album covers over the years that some used record shops simply have Hirschfeld cover sections. You don't get many people who can say that they help Django Reinhardt get his first recording date and also find themselves in the studio with Aerosmith. Hirschfeld's strong connection to music has never been explored…until now.”

 

Al Hirschfeld's drawings stand as one of the most innovative efforts in establishing the visual language of modern art through caricature in the 20th century. A self-described “characterist,” his signature work, defined by a linear calligraphic style, appeared in virtually every major publication of the last nine decades (including a 75-year relationship with The New York Times) as well as numerous book and record covers and 15 postage stamps. Hirschfeld said his contribution was to take the character, created by the playwright and portrayed by the actor, and reinvent it for the reader. Playwright Terrence McNally wrote: "No one 'writes' more accurately of the performing arts than Al Hirschfeld. He accomplishes on a blank page with his pen and ink in a few strokes what many of us need a lifetime of words to say."

 

In 1945, Hirschfeld celebrated the birth of his daughter Nina by placing her name in the background of a drawing. What the artist described as an innocent prank soon became a personal trademark and national obsession, as he began hiding numerous NINA's throughout his drawings for years to come.

 

He is represented in many public collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Portrait Gallery, and Harvard's Theater Collection. Hirschfeld authored several books including Manhattan Oases and Show Business is No Business in addition to 10 collections of his work. He was declared a Living Landmark by the New York City Landmarks Commission in 1996, and a Living Legend by The Library of Congress in 2000. Just before his death in January 2003, he learned he was to be awarded the Medal of Arts from the National Endowment of the Arts and inducted into the Academy of Arts and Letters. The winner of two Tony Awards, he was given the ultimate Broadway accolade on what would have been his 100th birthday in June 2003. The Martin Beck Theater was renamed the Al Hirschfeld Theater.

 

David Leopold, the creative force behind both the new book and exhibition, has spent more than 30 years studying Hirschfeld's work, the first 13 as Hirschfeld's Archivist, visiting him in his studio once or twice a week. Now the Creative Director for the nonprofit Al Hirschfeld Foundation, Leopold's previous book, The Hirschfeld Century: A Portrait of the Artist and His Age (Knopf), has been called by The Washington Post, “An instant classic.” Booklist declared, “Leopold emulates the economy and fluidity of Hirschfeld's drawings in this star-studded, anecdote-rich, critically clarifying, and thoroughly enlightening portrait of the portraits.” He has earned rave reviews from audiences around the country for his illustrated presentations on the work of Hirschfeld.

City Winery was founded in New York City in 2008 by Michael Dorf to deliver a unique combined culinary and cultural experience to urban wine enthusiasts. Each City Winery offers intimate concerts, food and wine seminars, private event spaces, upscale dining, and a fully functioning winery. Today, City Winery has physical locations in New York City, Chicago, Nashville, Atlanta, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Grand Central, and Hudson Valley. There are also four other concepts run by the company: City Vineyard at Pier 26, City Winery at Rockefeller Center, City Winery Chicago at the Riverwalk, and Cornelius restaurant in Grand Central Terminal.

The mission of the Al Hirschfeld Foundation is to promote interest in the theater and visual arts by supporting non-profit museums, libraries, theaters and similar cultural institutions. The Foundation fulfills its mission through grants and exhibitions of Hirschfeld's art. The Foundation maintains an extensive collection of Hirschfeld artworks and lends and/or donates pieces to institutions all over the world. Another primary mission is arts education, which the Foundation does primarily with the Hirschfeld Arts Curriculum. Created in conjunction with the New York City Board of Education, The Hirschfeld Arts Curriculum is an innovative visual/performing arts education program based on Hirschfeld's art to engage students K through 12 in a variety of arts activities. Our programs encourage writing, reading, researching, observing, movement and performance to learn about the arts, its history, and the opportunities for education and employment in the arts field. The web based Al Hirschfeld curriculum is easy to use, and is intended to be a free resource for teachers and students. www.AlHirschfeldFoundation.org

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