IIn 1988, SVA founder Silas H. Rhodes instituted the College's Masters Series, an award and exhibition honoring great visual communicators—designers, illustrators, art directors and photographers—of our time. Over the years, the Masters Series has celebrated the work of Seymour Chwast (1997), Milton Glaser (1989) and Massimo Vignelli (1991), to cite just a few. Although the achievements of many groundbreaking artists and designers are known to and lauded by their colleagues, the names of these individuals often go unrecognized by the general public. This year, the Masters Series is honoring illustrator Edward Sorel. The exhibition, which displays more than 100 drawings, caricatures and illustrations, is currently on view at the Visual Arts Gallery.

Hailed by The New York Times as "one of America's foremost political satirists," Sorel has delighted magazine readers for decades with his social critiques, political satires and whimsical picture essays. Sorel has used his pen to lampoon politicians, businessmen, celebrities and even himself; his subjects have ranged from Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and George W. Bush to Leo Tolstoy, Frank Sinatra and Madonna. "The Masters Series: Edward Sorel" reveals a major American artist whose intelligence and humor are matched by his cunning storytelling and incisive social commentary. Formerly a regular contributor to The Nation, New York Magazine and The Atlantic, Sorel is today most frequently seen in the pages of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, for which he has contributed 45 covers.

Though November 5, 2011 / Visual Arts Gallery / 601 West 26 Street, 15th floor / New York City