HARVEY SCHMIDT
Portraits
Self-portrait
Senator Joseph McCarthy
Harvey was suggested by his friend at Esquire Magazine, Robert Benton, to illustrate the August 1958 article about McCarthy using art rather than photography. The result was a dramatically dark and stern likeness of the prominent demagogue.
The portrait won an Award of Distinctive Merit by the Art Directors Club of New York. (Collection: Richard Rovere)
David Merrick
This much admired portrait of the legendary theatrical producer, often called “The Abominable Showman,” appeared in Esquire Magazine in 1960 – a good three years before David ever met Harvey and prior to his productions of the Jones/Schmidt musicals 110 IN THE SHADE and I DO! I DO! And for all of those years Merrick, a man of strong opinions, let it be known that he wasn’t too pleased with the portrait. Finally after Merrick hired Harvey and Tom to write the score for 110, when Merrick found out that Harvey had done the hated portrait, he told Harvey he was going to sue him for “defamation of caricature.” There was some yelling, but there’s nothing like success to clear the air. When the show got good reviews and enjoyed a respectable run, all was forgiven.
The portrait was awarded an Award of Distinctive Merit by New York Art Director’s Club. (Collection: Robert Benton)
Other Versions
George Gershwin
This portrait of composer George Gershwin appeared in a full-page advertisement for CBS Television in the New York Times.
Sinclair Lewis
Appeared in Esquire’s Titans Revisited (1958)
James Baldwin and Norman Mailer
“The Black Boy Looks at the White Boy Norman Mailer”
Esquire Magazine May 1961
Franz Kafka
For HARPER’S BAZAAR magazine
