Saul Steinberg

:"This page is about the artist; there is also an investor named Saul Steinberg." Infobox Comics creator
name = Saul Steinberg


imagesize =
caption =
birthname = Saul Steinberg
birthdate = birth date |1913|6|15
location = Râmnicu Sărat, Romania
deathdate = death date |1999|5|12
deathplace =
nationality =
area =
alias =
notable works = | awards =

Saul Steinberg (June 15, 1914 – May 12, 1999) was a Romanian-born American cartoonist and illustrator, best known for his work for "The New Yorker" magazine.

Biography

Steinberg was born in Râmnicu Sărat, Romania. He studied philosophy for a year at the University of Bucharest, then later enrolled at the Politecnico di Milano, studying architecture and graduating in 1940. During his years in Milan he was actively involved in the satirical magazine "Bertoldo".

Steinberg left Italy after the introduction of anti-Semitic laws in Fascist Italy.cite web
url = http://www.saulsteinbergfoundation.org/life_work.html
title = Life and Work
accessdate = 2007-12-03
work =
publisher = The Saul Steinberg Foundation] He spent a year in the Dominican Republic awaiting a U.S. visa; in the meantime, he submitted his cartoons to foreign publications. In 1942, "The New Yorker" magazine sponsored his entry into the United States, which would begin Steinberg's lifelong relationship with publication. In his almost sixty years working with "The New Yorker", Steinberg created in nearly 90 covers and more than 1,200 drawings. [http://www.saulsteinbergfoundation.org/life_work.html The Saul Steinberg Foundation website: Life and Work page] ]

During World War II, he worked for military intelligence, stationed in China, North Africa, and Italy. After the war's end, he returned to work for American publications, merging an encyclopedic knowledge of European art with the popular American art form of the cartoon, to pioneer a uniquely urbane style of illustration. [ [http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/reviews/davis/davis1-4-07.asp Steinberg's Signatures] by Ben Davis, Artnet Magazine] Although best remembered for his commercial work, Steinberg did exhibit his work throughout his career at fine art museums and galleries. In 1946, Steinberg, along with artists such as Arshile Gorky, Isamu Noguchi, and Robert Motherwell, was exhibited in the critically acclaimed "Fourteen Americans" show at The Museum of Modern Art. He has also enjoyed a retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art (1978) and another posthumous one at the Institute for Modern Art in Valencia (IVAM), Spain (2002).

After Steinberg's death in 1999, the Saul Steinberg Foundation was established in accordance with the artist's will. In addition to functioning as Steinberg's official estate, the Foundation is also a nonprofit organization with a mission "to facilitate the study and appreciation of Saul Steinberg's contribution to 20th-century art" and to "serve as a resource for the international curatorial-scholarly community as well as the general public." [ [http://www.saulsteinbergfoundation.org/ The Saul Steinberg Foundation website] ] The Foundation has been instrumental in organizing the "Saul Steinberg: Illuminations" travelling exhibition, which will display original Steinberg works at various museum and galleries around the world, including Fondation Cartier-Bresson, Paris (May 6-July 27, 2008), Kunsthaus Zürich (August 22-November 2, 2008), Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, (November 26, 2008-February 15, 2009) and Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, (March 13-June 1, 2009). [ [http://www.saulsteinbergfoundation.org/news.html The Saul Steinberg Foundation website: News page] ] The U.S. copyright representative for the Saul Steinberg Foundation is the Artists Rights Society. [ [http://www.saulsteinbergfoundation.org/contact.html The Saul Steinberg Foundation website: Rights page] ]

The "View of the World" cover

Steinberg's most famous "New Yorker" work is the March 29 1976, [http://www.thenewyorkerstore.com/assets/2/50326_l.jpgcover,] an illustration titled "View of the World from 9th Avenue", [Elliott, Janet. [http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5198168.html "Restoration needed for salvaged 1940s mural."] "Houston Chronicle", October 8, 2007.] sometimes referred to as "A Parochial New Yorker's View of the World" or "A New Yorker's View of the World", which depicts a map of the world as seen by self-absorbed New Yorkers.

The illustration is split in two, with the bottom half of the image showing Manhattan's 9th Avenue, 10th Avenue, and the Hudson River (appropriately labeled), and the top half depicting the rest of the world. The rest of the United States is the size of the three New York City blocks and is drawn as a square, with a thin brown strip along the Hudson representing New Jersey, the names of five cities (Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Las Vegas, Kansas City, and Chicago) and three states (Texas, Utah, and Nebraska) scattered among a few rocks for the U.S. beyond New Jersey. The Pacific Ocean, perhaps half again as wide as the Hudson, separates the U.S. from three flattened land masses labeled China, Japan, and Russia.

Cultural legacy

The illustration, depicting New Yorkers' self-image of their place in the world, or perhaps outsiders' view of New Yorkers' self-image, inspired many similar works, including the poster for the 1984 film "Moscow on the Hudson"; that movie poster led to a lawsuit, "Steinberg v. Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.", 663 F. Supp. 706 (S.D.N.Y. 1987), which held that Columbia Pictures violated the copyright that Steinberg held on his work.

References

External links

* [http://www.saulsteinbergfoundation.org/ The Saul Steinberg Foundation] , established by the artist's will
* [http://www.nga.gov/fcgi-bin/gemini.pl?slide=1&artist=52 Etchings of Steinberg] , from the National Gallery of Art
* [http://www.cartoonbank.com/Steinberg/prints_steinberg_bio.asp The Steinberg Collection] from a website owned by "The New Yorker"