Edward Sorel

Edward Sorel (born Edward Schwartz, March 26, 1929) is an American illustrator, caricaturist, cartoonist, graphic designer and author. His work is known for its storytelling, its left-liberal social commentary, and its criticism of right-wing politics and organized religion. Formerly a regular contributor to The Nation, New York Magazine and The Atlantic, his work is today seen more frequently in Vanity Fair. He has been hailed by The New York Times as "one of America's foremost political satirists". 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. Sorel is noted for his wavy pen-and-ink style, which he describes as "spontaneous direct drawing".

Early life Sorel was born and grew up in The Bronx, the son of Jewish immigrants.

Career Sorel was a co-founder of Push Pin Studios with Milton Glaser, Seymour Chwast, and Reynold Ruffins in 1953. 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 journal 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

In 2016, Sorel published "Mary Astor's Purple Diary," which was received with praise. In late December 2016, Sorel received a rave book review by Woody Allen.

Personal life

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. 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,

In 2011, the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan honored Sorel as part of their Masters Series, an award and exhibition that honors great visual communicators.