UNAUTHORIZED PORTRAITS

A welcome review of the great caricaturist's work, ranging from the 1970s to the present, with sections on ""History"" (with a droll strip on God, a hilarious portrait of a variety of American presidents caught in illicit liaisons, and a young Truman Capote having tea with a wonderfully dour Colette); ""Entertainment and the Arts"" (featuring a blithe George Gershwin showing Fred Astaire the choreography for ""Fascinating Rhythm,"" and a startling portrait of Woody Allen and Mia Farrow); and ""Politics,"" which includes some of Sorel's most identifiable--and savage--work, such as his frequent, inspired pilloryings of Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. There's an impressive continuity here: From his earliest work Sorel has demonstrated a powerful gift for rendering the personalities of the famous in a manner that is slyly exaggerated, psychologically penetrating, and utterly convincing. He also, as this generous gathering of work (principally from magazines) reminds us, has an extraordinary range of knowledge about popular culture. And he is a subtle and very effective colorist. A deeply amusing, even necessary, volume.