GOLDBERG, HIRSCHFELD & DISNEY, INC – or INK!

One of my graphic heroes is Al Hirschfeld (1903-2003), the legendary caricaturist, responsible for hundreds of memorable black and white pen-portraits of many of the greatest stars and and most cerebrated of celebrities – all drawn with a fluid, flowing, calligraphic  line that captures the personality with such astonishing accuracy that a Hirschfeld likeness is unmistakable.

Every drawing features his famous block-of-lines signature (see left) and is known to conceal the name of his daughter 'Nina' in one or more places in the design.

Here's a few reminders of Hirschfeld's genius...

And this Hirschfeld cartoon takes me to the point where I can explain the title of today's blog post...

The subject is Eric Goldberg one of a new golden age of Disney animators responsible for – among others – this memorable character...

It only takes a glance to see that Eric Goldberg was channelling Hirschfeld in his designs for the Genni in Aladdin. Goldberg's stylish homage earned him the master's friendship and permission to use the Hirschfeld-look for the stunning 'The Rhapsody in Blue' sequence in Fantasia 2000.

Now Goldberg has taken up his Hirschfeldian pen and drawn a gallery of famous Disney characters created in the style of the caricatured star portraits on the walls of New York's famous Sardi's Restaurant.

These will eventually be displayed on the walls of an American diner at the forthcoming Shanghai Disneyland, but to save you having to wait until the newest Disney park is open, these brilliant drawings have been collected into a stylish volume from Disney Editions: An Animator's Gallery - Eric Goldberg Draws the Disney Characters with a text by David A. Bossert and a Foreword by John Lasseter.

An Animator's Gallery features hundreds of classic characters from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to Frozen via Pinocchio, Fantasia, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmatians, The Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.

Every page should prove a delight for Disney and Hirschfeld fans alike and, indeed, for anyone who shares my enjoyment of the graphic art of black-and-white pen-and-inkmandship...