DALLAS, TX.- In 1957, acclaimed illustrator Al Hirschfeld captured in one pithy and elegant composition a phenomenon that was making its way onto the Broadway stage: the serious musical. The illustration was for a New York Times Magazine article written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, director and producer George S. Kaufman that was subtitled "Musicals used to be boy and girl, song and dance, humor and happy ending. But now you can't see the chorus boys through your tears. Where will it all end?" Published six weeks after West Side Story's Broadway debut, Kaufman poked fun at the rise of musicals that left out the comedy. This work by Hirschfeld is especially memorable in its role as the harbinger of a trend. Musical Comedy or Musical Serious? depicts the industry schism taking place on Broadway stages by splitting the picture's background and foreground into very different narratives: The stage in the back of the image hosts an exuberant Ziegfeld Follies-type song-and-dance number, while players in the foreground lead a chained victim to a guillotine and strangle a medical patient with a knotted rope. A lone, corked bottle of cocaine sits just out of reach. Business in the front; party in the back. The overall style is trademark Hirschfeld, with his elegant linework, lyrical treatment of the human form, and insider witticisms sprinkled throughout.

The illustration is one of 10 by Hirschfeld that Heritage offers in its April 25 Illustration Art Signature ® Auction. This marks a continuation of Heritage's relationship with the Al Hirschfeld Foundation, which kicked off last fall with an auction to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and the Foundation itself. Several of the ink-on-board drawings offered in Heritage's new event come directly from the Foundation and the selection includes some real gems by the beloved artist.

Hirschfeld's drawings, in fact, stand as one of the most innovative efforts in establishing the visual language of modern art through caricature in the 20th century. A self-described "characterist," Hirschfeld's signature work, defined by a linear calligraphic style, appeared in virtually every major publication over nine decades (including a 75-year relationship with The New York Times), as well as numerous book and record covers and 15 postage stamps. Hirschfeld, a two-time Tony Award recipient, died in 2003 at the age of 99. Later that year, Broadway's Martin Beck Theatre was renamed the Al Hirschfeld Theatre.

"Al Hirschfeld's long and illustrious career goes beyond that of an artist," says Meagen McMillan, Heritage Auctions' Senior Specialist in Illustration and American Art. "The legendary caricaturist captured and documented with humor and line every great zeitgeist, icon and celebrity who crossed his path throughout his career spanning nine decades, from Broadway to Hollywood and beyond."

Another Hirschfeld highlight from the selection in the upcoming sale is titled Strange Bedfellows and illustrates the 1965 movie of the same name starring Gina Lollobrigida and Rock Hudson. Here, Lollobrigida poses as a naked Lady Godiva on her horse while Hudson takes a swing at a police officer. Hirschfeld wasn't limited to stage production illustration; he was a veteran of movie studio publicity and art departments, having worked for Goldwyn, Universal, Pathé, Selznick, Fox, First National and Warner Brothers. "I lived in the movies," he says of his early years, and it was in films that he discovered his gift of caricature. He would continue to draw films for studio publicity throughout his 82-year career.

Another Hirschfeld treasure in this auction hews closer to what we tend to think of when we think of the famous illustrator: the single-person portrait, in this case Marlene Deitrich, from 1967. Deitrich was a longtime close friend of Hirschfeld and his wife, though Dietrich (a veteran touring singer by then) didn't make her Broadway debut, an eponymous musical production, until 1967. She had waited in part because she wanted her arranger Burt Bacharach to conduct her production's orchestra. Outfitted in a $30,000 gown with bugle beads lined with 14-karat gold by Jean Louis of Hollywood, Dietrich performed for six weeks. The day before she opened, Hirschfeld's stunning drawing of the actress and singer, in her gown, appeared in the New York Times. The iconic image caught a world-weary Dietrich in a sultry pose. The event isn't limited to Hirschfeld however. The sale includes more than 400 lots, and includes some new-to-market illustrations by Gil Elvgren, who made his name creating highly recognizable pin-ups from the 1930s to the 1970s. The oil-on-canvas Baton Twirler, for example, from 1955, is fresh to market. The original owners were personal friends and colleagues of the artist and in fact occasionally modeled for Elvgren. This work appears to be unpublished but is an excellent example of Elvgren at the peak of his career. And it's just one of 13 Elvgren works in this event, which also includes some real Elvgren charmers like the 1948 Brown & Bigelow illustration coyly titled Did You Recognize Me by My Voice? (reproduced in the 1996 Taschen book dedicated to Elvgren) and another entry for Brown & Bigelow from 1954 titled Sailer Beware. Harkening to the heyday of pin-ups, it was created for a Metal Goods Manufacturing Co. calendar.

Also featured in this event: three works by Charles Addams, the late cartoonist whose original work is highly desirable at auction and keeps getting hotter. His Addams family comic All Right, Children, A Nice Big Sneer, Now was originally published in 1954 and depicts the famous fictional family performing a familiar family activity (though with a goth twist); and circa 1953's For Sale: Inquire Within, from Dean Glitter's Ghost Ballads album cover, shows us a seductively derelict house – turreted and creaky – with a cheerful "FOR SALE" sign planted in its overgrown front yard. One gets the feeling that "inquiring within" may not be the smartest move for anyone looking for a new home. This auction also features three intimate studies by Joseph Christian Leyendecker, one of the most celebrated illustrators of the 20th century. The working sketches of young girl eating cereal for a 1916 Kellogg's ad show the artist's process as he plays with hand and spoon position and the directional gaze of the girl, and the lot is accompanied by a Kellogg's porcelain plate and two tear sheets that show the finished illustration. A Cluett, Peabody & Co, Arrow collar advertisement study, circa 1924, is that of a fresh-faced young man wearing a smart striped tie and crisp-collared shirt; the campaign kicked off in The Saturday Evening Post. Another Leyendecker study for an Arrow ad features a young woman reaching into negative space while across the picture plane, a suited man is rendered upside-down; the artist flipped the canvas to get the most mileage out of it while he made preliminary decisions.