Saul Steinberg
Illuminations
Saul Steinberg was an American artist whose magic lit up the pages and covers of The New Yorker for six decades. Our winter exhibition is a retrospective which features more than a hundred drawings, collages and sculptural assemblages by the artist.
26 November 2008 - 15 February 2009

		Introduction Cartoonist? Illustrator? Fine-artist? How do you define Steinberg's work, which seems to defy categorisation...
		Strada Palas, 1942 Steinberg remembers his family back in Bucharest, in 1942 - the year he arrived in America.
		Techniques Manipulation of drawing techniques reveal the personalities of Steinberg's subjects - guests at a party.
		Diary of Rimbaud, 1952 Steinberg believed that some people were shallow in their appreciation of true art and poetry. In this case he mocks the materialistic desires of those who sought the mythical diary of Rimbaud, a writer who greatly inspired him.
		Art Viewers, 1949 Steinberg affectionately pokes fun at the 19th-century taste - lush, proper and over-elaborate.
		The Line, 1954 The graphic line is the backbone of Steinberg's work and here he explores its tranformative qualities and plays with its many possiblities in a virtuoso piece that is over 10 metres long.
		Passport Steinberg's personal history was one of travel and emmigration - having being forced out of Romania and Italy before settling in America, he was very aware of the importance of official documents and in the piece created a pastiche of a passport - a satirical look at proof of identity.
		I Do, I Have, I Am, 1971 Steinberg loved words as much as images and frequently explored philosophy in his work.
		Paris/Sardinia, 1963 Steinberg was fascinated by American women and here illustrates a high-society conversation between two 'ladies who lunch'.
		View of the world from 9th Ave, 1975 The Manhattan frame of mind - beyond 9th Avenue the rest of the world is almost an afterthought. One of Steinberg's most famous works was also one of the most famous New Yorker covers.
		Artists and War, 1969 Steinberg distrusted the grinding machine of officialdom and was angered by the Vietnam war. In 'Artists and War' he explores his disgust of the war machine through irony.
		2000, 1996 This New Yorker cover drawing for New Year's eve 1997, hints at some doubt about whether he was going to make it over the last hill.