Nina hirschfeld west biography books

For decades, the name “Nina” conjured thoughts of hidden squiggles, swirls, and surprises, as thousands of fans hunted for the NINAs hidden by the master caricaturist Al Hirschfeld, who buried his daughter’s name as he took his magic pen to immortalize every major Broadway opening in The New York Times.

The NINAs were “a boon to science,” too, according to Ellen Stern, who took five years and conducted interviews for her biography, “Hirschfeld.” The Federal Aviation Agency wanted “to use the drawings to test perceptual ability.” The Department of Defense apparently wanted to use NINAs “to model the effects of camouflage on target search and detection.”

According to Stern, the real Nina seems to have transformed from a happy youngster to a miserable adult — dropping out of schools, disposing of careers like discarded tissues and, saddest of all, having a fractious relationship with her famous father.

Stern writes: “For such an observer, H