Collection: Steinberg Saul

(Râmnicu Sărat 1914 - New York 1999)

Saul Steinberg was one of the most brilliant and witty interpreters of the twentieth century, famous for transforming drawing into a refined form of philosophical art and social criticism.
For Steinberg, original graphics were not a derivative practice, but the beating heart of his entire production, the chosen medium to explore the neuroses and architectures of modern life. In etchings, lithographs, and screen prints, the artist combined the precision of calligraphic line with a surreal visual architecture often exaggerated in forms and proportions. By introducing conceptual innovations on the plates, such as the use of fake stamps and invented licenses, he launched a profound reflection on the power of bureaucracy.
His iconic images illustrated the pages of the most famous American magazines, from Life to Time and Harper’s Bazaar. With the New Yorker, he formed a partnership that lasted nearly sixty years: 642 illustrations and 85 covers, including the famous View of the World from 9th Avenue from 1976, in which the perspective gradually narrows to reduce the entire world to a distant background beyond the Hudson.
Celebrated by historic anthologies at the Whitney Museum and MoMA in New York, Steinberg elevated editorial art by subverting the boundaries between illustration and high art. His original graphics are masterpieces of irony and geometric rigor.