Edward Sorel
Encyclopedia
Edward Sorel is an illustrator
, caricaturist, cartoonist
, and graphic designer
.
Sorel is noted for his wavy pen-and-ink style, which he describes as "spontaneous direct drawing," since he does not use pencil or tracing for guidance. (He routinely, however, goes through 30 or 40 sketches before committing to a final drawing.) Sorel often augments his drawings with watercolor painting
.
His content is distinctive for its left-liberal line of argument, and is very critical of reactionary right-wing politics
. His work is also very acerbic about organized religion, and can be classed as vehemently anti-clerical. 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 1940s Hollywood when Sorel was a youth.
salesman, while his mother worked full-time in a hatmaking factory. Sorel became serious about drawing when a case of double pneumonia confined him to bed for nearly a year. He attended the High School of Music and Art, and graduated from the Cooper Union
in 1951. He was a co-founder of Push Pin Studios
with Milton Glaser
, Seymour Chwast
, and Reynold Ruffins
in 1953.
In 1956 Sorel went freelance. His first published illustration was A War for Civilization was sold to the satirical magazine The Realist
; in 1961. He then sold the magazine a cartoon satirizing the glamor of the Kennedy family, an early example of his parody movie posters. Victor Navasky
appointed him art director for the satirical magazine Monocle
in 1963. In the later 1960s he produced full-color satirical bestiaries for the left-wing Ramparts
, and a series called “Sorel’s Unfamiliar Quotations” for The Atlantic. A profile of Sorel in Time
15 October 1968 was instrumental in selling “Sorel’s News Service” by King Features to 44 syndicated newspapers for 14 months from later 1969 through 1970. Clay Felker founded New York magazine in the late 1960s and Sorel was a regular contributor, becoming art director in the late 1970s.
Sorel also contributed covers and features to early issues of National Lampoon. When Felker bought the Village Voice in 1974 Sorel was given a weekly spot there, which lasted for most of the 1970s. By the mid-1980s Sorel moved to The Nation
, now edited by his old colleague Navasky, and to which he contributed for the next decade. Sorel joined The New Yorker
in late 1992 contributing a cover to the first issue edited by new editor Tina Brown
. He has contributed many illustrations, features, and 44 covers to The New Yorker
.
He has contributed many features to Vanity Fair
. His art has also appeared on the covers of Harper's Magazine
, Fortune
, Forbes
, Esquire
, Time
, American Heritage
, Atlantic Monthly. Sorel also had a lengthy association with Penthouse
, often lavishly reworking earlier drawings and ideas from his work for Village Voice and The 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 as the New York Times, the New York Observer
, and American Heritage
magazine.
Sorel has been married twice. He met his second wife, Nancy Caldwell, in 1963 at a Quakers Morningside Friends Meeting
, and married her in 1965. Sorel and Caldwell have collaborated on two books, with Caldwell writing the text and Sorel doing the illustrations. Sorel has four children: Madeline Sorel Kahn, Leo Sorel, Jenny Sorel, Katherine Sorel; and five grandchildren: Sabella Kahn, Walter Sorel, Adam Sorel, Saskia Kahn, and Dulio Sorel.
In February 2010 he was named to the Freedom From Religion Foundation
's Honorary Board of distinguished achievers.
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.
, the Page One Award from the Newspaper Guild
, the Best in Illustration Award from the National Cartoonists Society
, the George Polk Award for Satiric Drawing, and the "Karikaturpreis der deutschen Anwaltschaft" from the Wilhelm Busch Museum in Hanover, Germany. He received the National Cartoonist Society Advertising and Illustration Award for 1993. In 2001, Sorel was given the Hunter College
James Aronson Award
for Social Justice Journalism Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2001 the Art Directors Club of New York elected him to their Hall of Fame, the first cartoonist since John Held Jr. to be so honored.
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
, caricaturist, cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
, and graphic designer
Graphic designer
A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, printed or electronic media, such as brochures and...
.
Sorel is noted for his wavy pen-and-ink style, which he describes as "spontaneous direct drawing," since he does not use pencil or tracing for guidance. (He routinely, however, goes through 30 or 40 sketches before committing to a final drawing.) Sorel often augments his drawings with watercolor painting
Watercolor painting
Watercolor or watercolour , also aquarelle from French, is a painting method. A watercolor is the medium or the resulting artwork in which the paints are made of pigments suspended in a water-soluble vehicle...
.
His content is distinctive for its left-liberal line of argument, and is very critical of reactionary right-wing politics
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
. His work is also very acerbic about organized religion, and can be classed as vehemently anti-clerical. 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 1940s Hollywood when Sorel was a youth.
Biography
Sorel grew up in the Bronx, son of Jewish immigrants. His father was a door-to-door dry goodsDry goods
Dry goods are products such as textiles, ready-to-wear clothing, and sundries. In U.S. retailing, a dry goods store carries consumer goods that are distinct from those carried by hardware stores and grocery stores, though "dry goods" as a term for textiles has been dated back to 1742 in England or...
salesman, while his mother worked full-time in a hatmaking factory. Sorel became serious about drawing when a case of double pneumonia confined him to bed for nearly a year. He attended the High School of Music and Art, and graduated from the Cooper Union
Cooper Union
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly referred to simply as Cooper Union, is a privately funded college in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States, located at Cooper Square and Astor Place...
in 1951. He was a co-founder of Push Pin Studios
Push Pin Studios
Push Pin Studios is a graphic design and illustration studio formed in New York City in 1954. Cooper Union graduates Milton Glaser, Seymour Chwast, Reynold Ruffins, and Edward Sorel founded the studio....
with Milton Glaser
Milton Glaser
Milton Glaser is a graphic designer, best known for the I Love New York logo, his "Bob Dylan" poster, the "DC bullet" logo used by DC Comics from 1977 to 2005, and the "Brooklyn Brewery" logo. He also founded New York Magazine with Clay Felker in 1968.-Biography:Glaser was born into a Hungarian...
, Seymour Chwast
Seymour Chwast
Seymour Chwast an American graphic designer, illustrator, and type designer.Chwast was born in Bronx, New York, and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Cooper Union in 1951. With Milton Glaser, Edward Sorel, and Reynold Ruffins, he founded Push Pin Studios in 1954...
, and Reynold Ruffins
Reynold Ruffins
Reynold Ruffins is an African American painter, illustrator, and graphic designer. With Milton Glaser, Edward Sorel, and Seymour Chwast, Ruffins founded Push Pin Studios in 1954...
in 1953.
In 1956 Sorel went freelance. His first published illustration was A War for Civilization was sold to the satirical magazine The Realist
The Realist
The Realist was a pioneering magazine of "social-political-religious criticism and satire," intended as a hybrid of a grown-ups version of Mad and Lyle Stuart's anti-censorship monthly The Independent. Edited and published by Paul Krassner, and often regarded as a milestone in the American...
; in 1961. He then sold the magazine a cartoon satirizing the glamor of the Kennedy family, an early example of his parody movie posters. Victor Navasky
Victor Navasky
Victor Saul Navasky is a professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He was editor of The Nation from 1978 until 1995, and its publisher and editorial director 1995 to 2005. In November 2005 he became the publisher emeritus...
appointed him art director for the satirical magazine Monocle
Monocle (magazine)
Monocle was an American satirical magazine, published irregularly from the late 1950s until the mid-sixties. For at least the majority of its run, it was edited by Victor Navasky. Calvin Trillin, C. D. B...
in 1963. In the later 1960s he produced full-color satirical bestiaries for the left-wing Ramparts
Ramparts (magazine)
Ramparts was an American political and literary magazine, published from 1962 through 1975.-History:Founded by Edward M. Keating as a Catholic literary quarterly, the magazine became closely associated with the New Left after executive editor Warren Hinckle hired Robert Scheer as managing editor...
, and a series called “Sorel’s Unfamiliar Quotations” for The Atlantic. A profile of Sorel in Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
15 October 1968 was instrumental in selling “Sorel’s News Service” by King Features to 44 syndicated newspapers for 14 months from later 1969 through 1970. Clay Felker founded New York magazine in the late 1960s and Sorel was a regular contributor, becoming art director in the late 1970s.
Sorel also contributed covers and features to early issues of National Lampoon. When Felker bought the Village Voice in 1974 Sorel was given a weekly spot there, which lasted for most of the 1970s. By the mid-1980s Sorel moved to The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
, now edited by his old colleague Navasky, and to which he contributed for the next decade. Sorel joined The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
in late 1992 contributing a cover to the first issue edited by new editor Tina Brown
Tina Brown
Tina Brown, Lady Evans, CBE , is a journalist, magazine editor, columnist, talk-show host and author of The Diana Chronicles, a biography of Diana, Princess of Wales. Born a British citizen, she took United States citizenship in 2005 after emigrating in 1984 to edit Vanity Fair...
. He has contributed many illustrations, features, and 44 covers to The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
.
He has contributed many features to Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
. His art has also appeared on the covers of Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
, Fortune
Fortune (magazine)
Fortune is a global business magazine published by Time Inc. Founded by Henry Luce in 1930, the publishing business, consisting of Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated, grew to become Time Warner. In turn, AOL grew as it acquired Time Warner in 2000 when Time Warner was the world's largest...
, Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
, Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
, Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, American Heritage
American Heritage (magazine)
American Heritage is a quarterly magazine dedicated to covering the history of the United States for a mainstream readership. Until 2007, the magazine was published by Forbes. Since that time, Edwin S...
, Atlantic Monthly. Sorel also had a lengthy association with Penthouse
Penthouse (magazine)
Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by FriendFinder Network. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International...
, often lavishly reworking earlier drawings and ideas from his work for Village Voice and The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The 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 as the New York Times, the New York Observer
New York Observer
The New York Observer is a weekly newspaper first published in New York City on September 22, 1987, by Arthur L. Carter, a very successful former investment banker with publishing interests. The Observer focuses on the city's culture, real estate, the media, politics and the entertainment and...
, and American Heritage
American Heritage (magazine)
American Heritage is a quarterly magazine dedicated to covering the history of the United States for a mainstream readership. Until 2007, the magazine was published by Forbes. Since that time, Edwin S...
magazine.
Sorel has been married twice. He met his second wife, Nancy Caldwell, in 1963 at a Quakers Morningside Friends Meeting
Friends meeting house
A Friends meeting house is a meeting house of the Religious Society of Friends , where meeting for worship may be held.-History:Quakers do not believe that meeting for worship should take place in any special place. They believe that "where two or three meet together in my name, I am there among...
, and married her in 1965. Sorel and Caldwell have collaborated on two books, with Caldwell writing the text and Sorel doing the illustrations. Sorel has four children: Madeline Sorel Kahn, Leo Sorel, Jenny Sorel, Katherine Sorel; and five grandchildren: Sabella Kahn, Walter Sorel, Adam Sorel, Saskia Kahn, and Dulio Sorel.
In February 2010 he was named to the Freedom From Religion Foundation
Freedom From Religion Foundation
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is an American freethought organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. Its purposes, as stated in its bylaws, are to promote the separation of church and state and to educate the public on matters relating to atheism, agnosticism and nontheism. The FFRF publishes...
's Honorary Board of distinguished achievers.
Exhibitions
In 1998 the National Portrait GalleryNational Portrait Gallery (United States)
The National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery in Washington, D.C., administered by the Smithsonian Institution. Its collections focus on images of famous individual Americans.-Building:...
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.
Awards
He is a recipient of the Auguste St. Gaudens Medal for Professional Achievement from The Cooper Union (his alma mater), the Hamilton King Award from The Society of IllustratorsSociety of Illustrators
The Society of Illustrators is a professional society based in New York City. Founded in 1901, the mission of the Society is to promote the art and appreciation of illustration, as well as its history...
, the Page One Award from the Newspaper Guild
Newspaper Guild
The Newspaper Guild-CWA is a labor union founded by newspaper journalists in 1933 who noticed that unionized printers and truck drivers were making more money than they did...
, the Best in Illustration Award from the National Cartoonists Society
National Cartoonists Society
The National Cartoonists Society is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the troops...
, the George Polk Award for Satiric Drawing, and the "Karikaturpreis der deutschen Anwaltschaft" from the Wilhelm Busch Museum in Hanover, Germany. He received the National Cartoonist Society Advertising and Illustration Award for 1993. In 2001, Sorel was given the Hunter College
Hunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
James Aronson Award
James Aronson Award
James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism has been awarded by Hunter College since 1990.It is to honor the Hunter College professor of journalism and editor James Aronson....
for Social Justice Journalism Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2001 the Art Directors Club of New York elected him to their Hall of Fame, the first cartoonist since John Held Jr. to be so honored.
Children's Books
- The Zillionaire's Daughter (Warner Juvenile Books, 1989)
- Johnny-on-the-Spot (M.K. McElderry Books, 1998)
- The Saturday Kid, with Cheryl Carlesimo (M.K. McElderry Books, 2000)
Collaborations
- Word People, by Nancy Caldwell Sorel (American Heritage Press, 1970)
- First Encounters: a Book of Memorable Meetings, by Nancy Caldwell Sorel (Knopf, 1994)
Illustrated
- King Carlo of Capri, by Warren MillerWarren Miller (author)Warren Miller was an American writer. Although he gained some notoriety for his books dealing with issues of race, as in The Cool World and The Siege of Harlem, and for his more political books such as Looking for The General and Flush Times, because of his early death due to lung cancer and his...
(Harcourt, Brace & Comp., 1958) - Pablo Paints a Picture, by Warren Miller (Little, Brown, 1959)
- The Goings-on at Little Wishful, by Warren Miller (Little, Brown, 1959)
- Gwendolyn the Miracle Hen, by Nancy Sherman (Golden Press, 1961)
- Gwendolyn and the Weathercock by Nancy Sherman (Golden Press, 1963)
- What's Good For A Five-Year-Old, by William Cole (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1969)
- The Duck in the Gun, by Joy Cowley (Doubleday, 1969)
- Jay Williams' Magical Storybook (American Heritage Press, 1972)
- The Pirates of Penzance, by Ward Botsford (Random House, 1981)
- Jack and the Beanstalk, by Eric Metaxas (Rabbit Ears Books, 2006)
- The Complete Fables of la Fontaine: A New Translation in Verse, by Jean de la Fontaine and Craig Hill (Arcade Pub., 2008)
- Certitude: A Profusely Illustrated Guide to Blockheads and Bullheads, Past and Present, by Adam Begley (Harmony Books, 2009)
External links
- "Unauthorized Portraits: The Drawings of Edward Sorel", an exhibition July 2, 1999 to January 2, 2000 at the National Portrait GalleryNational Portrait Gallery (United States)The National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery in Washington, D.C., administered by the Smithsonian Institution. Its collections focus on images of famous individual Americans.-Building:...
. - Art Directors Club 2002 biography and tribute by R.O. Blechman, and images of work
- slideshow of work for Vanity Fair
- contributions to The Atlantic
Interviews
- http://www.lctreview.org/article.cfm?id_issue=88781&id_article=78282890&page=1discussion between Edward Sorel, Jules FeifferJules FeifferJules Ralph Feiffer is an American syndicated cartoonist, most notable for his long-run comic strip titled Feiffer. He has created more than 35 books, plays and screenplays...
, and David LevineDavid LevineDavid Levine was an American artist and illustrator best known for his caricatures in The New York Review of Books. Jules Feiffer has called him "the greatest caricaturist of the last half of the 20th Century".-Early life and education:Levine was born in Brooklyn, where his father Harry ran a...
about left-wing politics and cartoons] - 1997 interview with The Atlantic
- 2006 interview with The Guardian
- 2006 interview about Literary Lives
- 2008 interview
- interview about Waverly Inn mural
- interview about Monkey Bar mural
Reviews
- review of The Undressed Art: Why We Draw
- review of 18 Century Caricature
- review of 19th Century Caricature
- review of caricaturist Covarrubias
- review of caricaturist William Auerbach-Levy
- review of Krazy Kat cartoons
- review of cartoonist Gluyas Williams
- review of cartoonist Charles Saxon
- review of cartoonist James ThurberJames ThurberJames Grover Thurber was an American author, cartoonist and celebrated wit. Thurber was best known for his cartoons and short stories published in The New Yorker magazine.-Life:...
- review of Charles Addams
- review of cartoonist Herblock
- review of Dr Seuss
- review of William Steig
- review of Ludwig Bemelmans
- review of Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer by Ben Katchor
- article about the film Casablanca