Pen, Pencil & a Bottle of Ink: Al Hirschfeld Seen Through Six Drawings


Swann Director of Illustration Art, Christine von der Linn, joined special guest David Leopold, author of the best-selling The Hirschfeld Century and the Creative Director of the Al Hirschfeld Foundation, for a special live program on Monday July 13, 2020. In this centennial of Hirschfeld’s career, Leopold tells stories of how the iconic works in Swann’s upcoming auction reveal a great deal of Hirschfeld history and illuminate his role in defining popular culture in the twentieth century. 


About the Speakers

David Leopold is an author and curator who has organized exhibitions for institutions around the country including the Library of Congress, the Field Museum in Chicago, the James A. Michener Art Museum, and the New York Public Library. Internationally, he has organized shows for museums including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Filmmuseum in Berlin. He has been the archivist of Al Hirschfeld’s work for 25 years and has written extensively about twentieth century performance caricature.

Christine von der Linn is the director of the Illustration Art department at Swann Galleries, where she has nurtured the department from dedicated annual sales beginning in 2013 to popular biannual events. For over two decades, she has lectured and moderated panel discussions on rare books and illustration, including Still Reading It for the Cartoons: Changing Production Methods & Public Perception in Illustration.


Learn About Future Events

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