2008/03/09

Inspiration: Don Bevan










Don Bevan is definitely my favorite caricaturist whose work hangs on the walls of Sardi's Restaurant in N.Y.C. Like Hirschfeld & Covarrubias, his line work was brilliant, capturing his subject with just a few strokes...and you have to be a great draughtsman to accomplish that! He also co-wrote the play "Stalag 17" which he got the idea for while actually a P.O.W. in the real Stalag 17 near Baden-Baden. It's very hard to find his work online let alone detailed information about him...in fact the images I posted were taken from the "Off the Wall at Sardi's" book which is also pretty hard to find now as well. I believe he's still alive and would only hope that he might publish a book with his sketches...it would certainly be a best seller among Caricaturists!!.

8 comments:

patrick mate said...

I got that book of caricature years ago.I'm a big turner classic fan so it was easy for me to recognize all the actors drawn in it .Its great to see the style of the artist change with the year .Anyway the drawing you picked Vincent are wonderful exemple of the work of the artist.

Vincenzo said...

Hi Patrick

Bevan was, in my opinion, the best of the group. Everyone of his caricatures were right on!! I do know that as of 2007 he was still out there since I read somewhere that Spike Lee was considering doing a revival of "Stalag 17" and he wanted to be involved.
I just wish he would make the rest of his work available to the rest of us...I'm sure it's fantastic!

Danny said...

An incredible artist indeed. Unique style, and phenomenal line work. In my opinion, good line work is the most important thing in a caricature, aside from exaggeration and likeness.

Hirshfield along with Don are a couple of my favorite caricature artists.

Unknown said...

No le conocía y me ha gustado mucho su sencillez. Además, me quedo con la de Paul Newman, en la que ha conseguido totalmente su mirada.
Gracias por la recomendación.

Vincenzo said...

Thanks Dan & Kike for your comments!

Through a stroke of good luck I was able to make contact with one of Don's family members. I was told he is well (now 88 years old) and working on his auto-biography as well as trying to get "Stalag 17" into production again. I'm really hoping he can find some time to talk to me...I would love to ask him some questions about his work. In any case his book should be a fantastic read...I definitely will be looking forward to it!!

Elliot Cowan said...

Heya Vince.
I've been back in Oz for a bit.
We should make an effort to catch up when I'm back in your homeland.

Unknown said...

Amazing work here!

Vincenzo said...

Thank you Wouter, your comment is very much welcomed! I admire all your work...the caricatures, watercolors, character design and book illustrations...brilliant stuff!!!

I always look forward to any new posts on your blog.

All the best