Gerard Hoffnung. The Hoffnung Music Festival (1956)

     Gerard Hoffnung. The Hoffnung Music Festival (1956) One of a series of enchanting little books of Hoffnung cartoons. Hoffnung had an eye for the foibles and quirks of humanity, and the skill to translate them into line. He also has great affection for his fellow fools, and a great appreciation of the womanly form, especially the more robust type; no admirer of androgyny, he. The drawing in which a conductor sketches a naked lady in midair shows this beautifully. But Hoffnung’s earthiness is coupled with an engaging innocence; his allusions to sex are playful and joyous, never prurient. Fay gave me this little book; it will stand with the much-read and -worn volumes in which other Hoffnung cartoons are collected. **** (2004)