Al HIRSCHFELD Penn & Teller Triple autographed Ltd. edition Lithograph Framed

Description

Genuine Hirschfeld lithograph of Penn & Teller
Signed by Hirschfeld in pencil and signed by Penn & Teller in marker
Framed (29" x 23")
A print of this exact lithograph hangs in Penn & Teller's Monkey Room—their green room backstage at the Rio Casino where their show has been running for many years in Vegas—you can see it over Penn's shoulder in the last photo.
I bought this print from Steven Banks, who has been a friend of the duo since the lat 1970s (they met when Penn & Teller were in the Asparagus Valley Cultural Society and their show "Asparagus" was running in San Francisco). When Hirschfeld did this caricature in 1985 during Penn & Teller's first off-Broadway show, Banks bought a copy of the print and had his friends sign it. (Steven appeared as "Billy the Mime" in "The Aristocrats" the documentary that Penn & Teller produced.)
Penn & Teller
are American magicians, entertainers, writers, and skeptics who have performed together since the late 1970s. They are noted for their ongoing act that combines elements of
comedy
with
magic
.
The duo has been featured in numerous stage and television shows such as
Penn & Teller: Fool Us
and currently perform in
Las Vegas
at
The Rio
, the longest running headliners to play at the same hotel in Las Vegas history.
]
Penn Jillette serves as the act's
orator
and
raconteur
. Teller generally does not speak while performing, and instead communicates through
mime
and
nonverbals
, though his voice can occasionally be heard during their live shows and television appearances. Besides magic, the pair has become associated with the advocacy of
scientific skepticism
and
libertarianism
, particularly through their television show
Penn & Teller: Bullshit!
.
Albert Hirschfeld (June 21, 1903 – January 20, 2003) was a Jewish American caricaturist best known for his simple black and white satirical portraits of celebrities and Broadway stars.
Hirschfeld's art style is unique, and he is considered to be one of the most important figures in contemporary caricature, having influenced countless cartoonists. Hirschfeld's caricatures are almost always drawings of pure line with simple black ink on white paper with little to no shading or crosshatching. His drawings always manage to capture a likeness using the minimum number of lines. Though his caricatures often exaggerate and distort the faces of his subjects he is often described as being a fundamentally "nicer" caricaturist than many of his contemporaries, and being drawn by Hirschfeld was considered an honor more than an insult. Nonetheless he did face some complaints from his editors over the years; in a late-1990s interview with The Comics Journal Hirschfeld recounted how one editor told him his drawings of Broadway's "beautiful people" looked like "a bunch of animals". Hirschfeld generally dismissed these complaints, and most observers would agree that time proved him right.
Hirschfeld is known for hiding the name of his daughter, Nina, in most of the drawings he produced since her birth in 1945. The name would appear in a sleeve, in a hairdo, or somewhere in the background. Sometimes "Nina" would show up more than once and Hirschfeld would helpfully add a number next to his signature, to let people know how many times her name would appear. Hirschfeld originally intended the Nina gag to be a one-time gimmick but it soon spiraled out of control. Though Nina was a popular feature in his illustrations, with many enjoying the game of searching for them, on more than one occasion Hirschfeld would lament that the gimmick had overshadowed his art. On occasion he did try to discontinue the practice, but such attempts always generated harsh criticism. Nina herself was reportedly somewhat ambivalent about all the attention. In the previously mentioned interview with The Comics Journal Hirschfeld confirmed the urban legend that the US Army had used his cartoons to train bomber pilots with the soldiers trying to spot the NINAs much as they would spot their targets. Hirschfeld told the magazine he found the idea repulsive, saying that he felt his cartoons were being used to help kill people. In his 1966 anthology The World of Hirschfeld he included a drawing of Nina which he titled "Nina's Revenge." That drawing contained no Ninas. There were, however, two Als and two Dollys ("The names of her wayward parents").
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