Archives Week 2020 - WEST WING HA! Presidents & Their Challengers As Seen By Hirschfeld

The Al Hirschfeld Foundation is proud to announce the latest in a series of online exhibitions exploring the work of one of the most iconic artists of the last century. As America engages in one of the most closely-watched presidential elections in history, The Al Hirschfeld Foundation has launched West Wing Ha! - Presidents & Their Challengers As Seen By Hirschfeld. Now live on the Al Hirschfeld Foundation's website through Election Day, November 3, the online exhibition features Hirschfeld’s drawings depicting Presidents, First Ladies and presidential candidates including Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, George H. W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Mamie and Dwight Eisenhower, Bess and Harry S. Truman, Richard Nixon, Hubert Humphrey, and Jesse Jackson; as well as representations of presidents, historical and fictional, from stage screen and television including 1776, Assassins, Mr. President, The Best Man, Abe Lincoln In Illinois, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, The Manchurian Candidate and The West Wing. 

“Now for the first time, The Foundation has gathered 25 pieces that document Hirschfeld’s view of the Oval Office occupants from an early sculpture of Abraham Lincoln to a previously unpublished drawing of the popular television show The West Wing more than eighty years later,” writes David Leopold, Creative Director for the AHF in the introduction to the exhibition. “Hirschfeld drew the President and any challengers in good times and in bad times, in musicals and in dramas, and in thrillers and comedies. Hirschfeld’s presidential drawings earned him two private visits to the White House, artwork on an aircraft carrier, a copy of LBJ’s State of the Union address, and probably played a role is his receiving a National Medal of the Arts (awarded posthumously in 2003 at the White House). No matter what your party, join Hirschfeld on the campaign trail headed to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”

Please contact info@alhirschfeldfoundation.org with any questions or for further information about the exhibition.