A Pianist’s World in Drawings

One of the world’s foremost concert pianists, Misha Dichter is also a celebrated artist—who has documented his life and musical career in witty and insightful black and white sketches for over 40 years. Many of the drawings have appeared to high acclaim in New York art galleries, and in A Pianist’s World in Drawings, the artist’s complete body of work is now available to fans, art aficionados, and collectors for the first time.
This collection provides readers with an astute and perceptive visual account of the artist’s life onstage, on the road, and behind the curtain. The accompanying captions and anecdotes deliver a fascinating and humorous perspective on the life of a high-profile professional musician.
Dichter’s drawings have been compared to those of New Yorker artists Saul Steinberg and George Grosz, both of whom bring a perspective of playful satire to their work. Screenwriter Marshall Brickman writes, “Not content with being one of our premiere concert artists, Misha Dichter has the temerity also to be a brilliant graphic artist. His drawings display all the grace, wit, and sureness of style we’ve come to expect form his performances. He has captured his world in a series of keenly and often hilariously observed drawings filled with wry insight. This is a collection for lovers of both music and graphic art. Move over, Saul Steinberg – there’s a new guy on the block.”
“Misha Dichter shakes his diligent classical piano training to ‘play’ freely in his drawings. The joy we feel looking at them is rooted in the pleasure he takes making them. They are his record of trips taken, important moments, and the music world he knows so well. The drawings share the playfulness of Paul Klee and Saul Steinberg mixed with the social commentary of George Grosz.”
—James Goodman
“I always enjoyed Misha's drawings. I found them artistic and so clever. Every time I look at them I say ‘Aha! So true!’ These cartoons are timeless.”
—Itzhak Perlman