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September 25, 1981 - Image 93

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1981-09-25

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Friday, September 25, 1E1 93

'Masters of Caricature' Is a Masterpiece

We wish our family and - friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year

MRS. BEN BENESON & FAMILY

nznzn. mzuo r1,3275

IRVING & REBA BLOOM

wish all their friends and relatives
a happy and healthy New Year

We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year

JOE and EDYTHE EMERY

tiznzn :Ism et3C5

FRANK, BETTY and
CHARLIE ELUAS

would like to wish all our family
and friends a healthy and happy
New Year

.

MR. and MRS. ELI FRIEDMAN
of West Palm Beach, Florida

Wish Their Family and Friends
A Happy & Healthy
New Year

tIsrizri Pima: ri3v5

- MR. and MRS.
FRANK RADZINSKI & FAMILY

would like to wish all our family
and friends a healthy and happy
- New Year

NATHAN & MAXINE
OSSEPOW

wish all their family and
friends a year filled with
health, happiness, joy
and peace

and
Cartooning
caricaturing are among the
most powerful weapons in-
fluencing public opinion.
They vie with the editorial
opinions as guides for popu-
lar action.
of
the
Studies
caricaturists, therefore, re-
veal most interesting as-
pects in the framing of pub-
lic opinion and in the por-
trayal of leaders and their
qualities or negations.
"Masters of Caricature --
From Hogarth and Gillray
to Scarfe and Levine"
(gnopf), edited by Ann
Gould, with an introduction
by William Feaver, is the
impressively remarkable
story of the art.
The explanatory essays,
the 250 black-and-white
and the 28 color illustra-
tions give this volume its
special status.
David Levine figures
prominently in the selected
cartoons and the stories
about the cartoonists in this
volume. The more than 200
cartoonists whose works are
included in this volume are
the world's most represen-
tative.
A caricature of Albert
Einstein by Halldor
Petursson of Iceland is
exemplary. There is a story
with nearly every portrayal
and the Einstein picture is
described as: "German-
Jewish physicist and ac-
complished violinist Albert
Einstein weighs up the
equation of mass and
energy."
The in4oduction by
Feaver conthins a special
reference to another world-
famous personality of
Jewish origin, Benjamin
Disraeli. The comment is:
"In January 1869, Benja-
min Disraeli appeared as
the first eminent personal-
ity to be caricatured in Van-
ity Fair. The artist was
Carlo Pelligrini, the
medium was chromalithog-
raphy, and the success of
this first of over 2,000
weekly, caricatures estab-
lished the name of the mag-
azine as virtually a
synonym for a new breed of
portrait-charge."

David Levine merits spe-
cial attention. He is well re-
presented here and he is de-
scribed as:
"The son of a New York
garment manufacturer,
David Levine resolved early
in life to be an artist, a pur-
suit for which he displayed
marked talent as a boy.
"At the age of 10 he was
enrolled in the Pratt Insti-
tute and the Brooklyn
Museum Art School, where
he drew a comic strip for the
school newspaper, and
honed his drawing tech-
nique by copying the car-
toon figures of Walt Disney.
After high school Levine
left New York to attend
Philadelphia's Tyler School
of Art where he studied
painting. Following his
graduation and return to
New York, he studied for a
year with Hans Hoffmann.
"He rejected the abstract
tendencies of the modern
American school of paint-
ing, in which Hoffmann was
a major figure, in favor of a
realist bias. Levine's
watercolors and oil paint-
ings of figures and street
scenes link him with 'The
Eight,' a group in the
American realist tradition
which included John Sloan
and George Luks.
"Levine has always been
concerned about quality
and correctness of
draftsmanship, and his em-
phasis on the mastery of
drawing technique carries
over into his caricature. His
sure command of line is a
key element in his remark-
ably incisive character
studies which, since their
first appearance in the New
York Review of Books dur-
ing the early 1960s, have
brought him international
fame.
"In these he has captured
the luminaries of art, litera-
ture, and politics of our own
time and previous ages.
Voltaire, David Smith,
Richard Nixon and Queen
Victoria have all been set
down in India ink, at least
once, by Levine.
The caricatures are often
lightened with a sophisti-
cated visual pun or jibe on

the subject and his work.
They have been compared
in style and approach to the
works of Thomas Nast, John
Tenniel and the comic book
artist Will Eisner.
"However, it is as much
his uncanny knack for as-
tute and humorous char-
acterization as his style that
makes David Levine's por-
trayals so memorable."
The "Masters" is a mas-
terful assembling of the
great in caricaturing. It is a
volume that spells history

All utterances prefaced
with "God forbid" are possi-
ble.

and personality and is as in-
formative as it is entertain-
ing. Indeed, it is a very great
book.
P.S.

Ur= R.Vre 113W4,

TO ALL OUR
FAMILY AND FRIENDS
MR. aml MRS.
GERALD EFRUSY & FAMILY

WE WISH OUR FRIENDS
AND RELATIVES A
HAPPY. HEALTHY

NEW YEAR
MR. and MRS.
PHIL KATZ

We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year

ZEE and RAY BERNSTEIN & FAMILY

.115rIzri rizIto ruet5

SARA & JOSEPH GROSSMAN

wish all their friends and relatives
a happy and healthy New Year

We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year

BOB, ELAYNE, JODI & MICHELLE MANGER

tisrizri mslio row5

AARON and DOROTHY REITMAN

wish all their friends and relatives
a happy and healthy New Year

We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year

DR. and MRS. BERNARD L. TOFT & FAMILY

__
nsrtzri rims) nrr5

MR. and MRS. WILLIAM WEISBERGER & FAMILY

wish all their friends and relatives
a happy and healthy New Year

nsrizn rism rinr5

CLARA & AVRUM FEINSTEIN

MAGENE & SAM
RICHMAN

would like to wish all our family
and friends a healthy and happy
New Year

wish all their family and
friends a year filled with
health, happiness, joy
and peace

MARLENE & LARRY WHITE
NATHAN & MARJORIE

nzrizn rIzlic rov5

NATE and SURA FEINSTEIN & FAMILY
Los Angeles, Calif.

would like to wish all our family
and friends a healthy and happy
New Year

.

DR. and MRS. DAVID I. SILVER

wish all their family and
friends a year filled with
health, happiness, joy
and peace- -z-

Wi‘sh Their Family and Friends
A Happy & Healthy
New Year
-
1

-

Albert-Einstein by Halldor Petursson.

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