Get in Line for the Hirschfeld Exhibit in St. Louis

If you are near the St. Louis area, or intend to visit there before the end of the year, you might want to make time to stop by the Sheldon Art Galleries to see the Al Hirschfeld’s Jazz and Broadway Scrapbook exhibit:

From the Sheldon Art Galleries website:

Al Hirschfeld’s Jazz and Broadway Scrapbook, the first major retrospective of the artist to be mounted in his hometown, will feature more than 100 original drawings, paintings, prints, collages, posters and ephemera from his long and important career, and reveals a heretofore unexplored, lifelong fascination with jazz. In addition to his artwork, the installation will feature his specially-made stereo system, his extensive jazz record collection, and African drums and Balinese shadow puppets from his home.

The image above is not part of that show, but one of my most prized possessions . . . a caricature of me by the Master himself (five “Ninas”, BTW). You can read the story behind this gem here if you are interested.

If you have never seen any of Hirschfeld’s original work, it is wonderful to behold. You would think his elegant line is created by sweeping strokes of a brush, but he builds those lines up with tiny strokes from a very thin dip pen. The show opened yesterday, and runs through January 5th, 2013.