A Steady Eye

Degas: ballerina. Monet: landscape. Lucien Freud: nude. One of the measures of a great artist’s legacy is that the very mention of his or her name conjures a strong visual image. In the realm of the graphic arts the name David Levine evokes caricature in precisely the same way.

Since the early 1960s David Levine has been rendering his extraordinary pen portraits of literary and historical luminaries in the pages of the New York Review of Books as well as in Time Magazine, Esquire, The New Yorker and a host of other prestigious publications. In an era of constantly shifting artistic styles, Levine’s work has remained remarkably consistent. This unwavering stylistic focus is very much a reflection of his deep awareness and appreciation of master artists throughout history. How he found and developed his unique vision and created his stunning body of portraiture, numbering more than 6,000 drawings, is a fascinating story.

The artist was...