Edward Sorel | |
|---|---|
| Born | Edward Schwartz (1929-03-26)March 26, 1929 (age 95) The Bronx, New York City |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | Illustrator, writer |
Edward Sorel (born Edward Schwartz, 26 March 1929)[1] is an Americanillustrator,caricaturist,cartoonist,graphic designer and author. His work is known for its storytelling, itsleft-liberal social commentary, and its criticism ofright-wing politics and organized religion. Formerly a regular contributor toThe Nation,New York Magazine andThe Atlantic, his work is today seen more frequently inVanity Fair. He has been hailed byThe New York Times as "one of America's foremost political satirists".[2][3][4] As a lifelong New Yorker, a large portion of his work interprets the life, culture and political events of New York City. There is also a large body of work which is nostalgic for the stars of 1930s and 1940sHollywood when Sorel was a youth. Sorel is noted for his wavy pen-and-ink style, which he describes as "spontaneous direct drawing".[5]
Sorel was born and grew up inThe Bronx, the son ofJewish immigrants.[2] His father was a door-to-doordry goods salesman, and his mother worked full-time in ahatmaking factory.[5] When a case ofdouble pneumonia confined Sorel to bed for nearly a year, he passed the time learning to draw and it evolved into a career path.[2] He attended theHigh School of Music & Art, and graduated from theCooper Union in 1951.[2]
As he explains inMary Astor's Purple Diary, he took his name from the character Julien Sorel ofThe Red and the Black byStendhal, with whom he felt akin because both hated their fathers, the clergy and the corrupt society of their time.[6]
Sorel was a co-founder ofPush Pin Studios withMilton Glaser,Seymour Chwast, andReynold Ruffins in 1953.[2]
In 1956 Sorel went freelance.[5] His first published illustration wasA War for Civilization, which he sold to the satirical magazineThe Realist;[7] in 1961. He then sold the magazine a cartoon satirizing the glamor of theKennedy family, an early example of his parody movie posters.Victor Navasky appointed him art director for the satirical magazineMonocle in 1963.[2] In the later 1960s he produced full-color satiricalbestiaries for the left-wing journalRamparts, and a series called "Sorel's Unfamiliar Quotations" forThe Atlantic. A profile of Sorel inTime 15 October 1968 was instrumental in selling "Sorel's News Service" byKing Features to 44 syndicated newspapers[2] for 14 months from later 1969 through 1970. Clay Felker foundedNew York magazine in the late 1960s and Glaser hired Sorel as its art director in the late 1970s.[2]
Sorel also contributed covers and features to early issues ofNational Lampoon. When Felker bought theVillage Voice in 1974 Sorel was given a weekly spot there, which lasted for most of the 1970s. By the mid-1980s Sorel moved toThe Nation, now edited by his old colleague Navasky, and to which he contributed for the next decade. Sorel joinedThe New Yorker in late 1992 contributing a cover to the first issue edited by new editorTina Brown. He has contributed many illustrations, features, and 44 covers toThe New Yorker.
He has contributed many features toVanity Fair. His art has also appeared on the covers ofHarper's Magazine,Fortune,Forbes,Esquire,Time,American Heritage,Atlantic Monthly. Sorel also had a lengthy association withPenthouse, often lavishly reworking earlier drawings and ideas from his work forThe Village Voice andThe Nation.
In 2007 he completed the celebrated mural for the Waverly Inn in New York's Greenwich Village, which was published as a book,The Mural at the Waverly Inn in 2008. In 2009 he completed the mural for the redesigned Monkey Bar Restaurant in New York City.
As a writer, Sorel has reviewed books and exhibitions of fellow cartoonists and illustrators for such publications asThe New York Times,The New York Observer, andAmerican Heritage magazine.
In February 2010 he was named to theFreedom From Religion Foundation's Honorary Board of distinguished achievers.[8]
In 2016, Sorel published "Mary Astor's Purple Diary," which was received with praise. In late December 2016, Sorel received a ravebook review byWoody Allen.
Sorel has been married twice. He met his second wife, Nancy Caldwell, in 1963 at aQuakersMorningsideFriends Meeting, and married her in 1965. Sorel and Caldwell have collaborated on two books, with Caldwell writing the text and Sorel doing the illustrations.[2] Sorel has four children: Madeline Sorel Kahn, Leo Sorel,[5] Jenny Sorel, Katherine Sorel; and six grandchildren: Saskia Kahn, Sabella Kahn, Walter Sorel, Adam Sorel, Dulio Sorel, and Thelonious Sorel.
In 1998 theNational Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, devoted several rooms to an exhibition of his caricatures. Other one-man shows include the Graham Gallery and the Davis and Langdale Gallery in New York City, the Susan Conway Gallery in Washington, DC, the Art Institute of Boston, Galerie Bartsch & Chariau in Munich, Germany, and Chris Beetles Gallery in London.
He is a recipient of the Auguste St. Gaudens Medal for Professional Achievement fromCooper Union (his alma mater), the Hamilton King Award from TheSociety of Illustrators, the Page One Award from theNewspaper Guild, the Best in Illustration Award from theNational Cartoonists Society, theGeorge Polk Award for Satiric Drawing, and the "Karikaturpreis der deutschen Anwaltschaft" from theWilhelm Busch Museum in Hanover, Germany.[9] He received the National Cartoonist Society Advertising and Illustration Award for 1993.[10] In 2001, Sorel was given theHunter CollegeJames Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2001 theArt Directors Club of New York elected him to their Hall of Fame,[5] the first cartoonist sinceJohn Held Jr. to be so honored.[9] Ed Sorel serves as an Honorary Board Member of theFreedom From Religion Foundation.[11]
In 2011, theSchool of Visual Arts in Manhattan honored Sorel as part of their Masters Series, an award and exhibition that honors great visual communicators.[3] The SVA produced a documentary about Sorel entitledNice Work if You Can Get It directed by his son, Leo. The documentary is now streaming on Vimeo.
In 2022, he was awarded the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year by theNational Cartoonists Society.[12]
