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During the early twentieth century, performing arts caricature came of age as an art form in the United States as celebrities of song, stage, and screen were transformed into popular icons of American culture. Caricatures played a prominent role in the dramatic rise in circulation enjoyed by numerous popular magazines and daily newspapers after 1900, when a new generation of cartoonists and illustrators transformed famous faces into vivid likenesses that set the standard for future creators.

All objects in this exhibition, unless otherwise noted, are preserved in the Prints and Photographs Division. This exhibition was prepared with support from the Caroline and Erwin Swann Memorial Fund for Caricature and Cartoon and was originally presented in the Swann Gallery of Caricature and Cartoon at the Library of Congress, November 5, 1998-April 3, 1999.

Albert Hirschfeld, Ira Gershwin, 1947
Ink, watercolor, gouache, and opaque
white on layered board
Published in Seventeen, March 1947
Gift of George L. Sturman
Prints & Photographs Division (11)