Elvis 1993

Albert Hirschfeld made this drawing of Elvis Presley and his guitar, using ink, and I suppose paper, though the date is unknown. The drawing has a quality of immediacy and play. It’s like Hirschfeld didn’t labor over it, but let it happen. This is a lithograph, so you're seeing an image created from a greasy crayon on stone. The light gray shading is the result of applying a lithographic wash, which creates this great soft texture. The ink line is confident and flowing, exaggerating the King's features and pose. Look at the swoosh of Elvis’s hair, how it echoes the curve of the guitar. The way the chest hair is treated, like a bunch of tiny commas, is funny and revealing. It brings to mind other artists who worked in ink, like Aubrey Beardsley, maybe. And it reminds us that art is a conversation that unfolds over time, each artist riffing on what came before.