Overview
For six decades, Saul Steinberg's covers, cartoons, features, and illustrations were a defining presence at The New Yorker. As the magazine became a standard-bearer of taste and intelligence in American letters, Steinberg's drawings emerged as its visual epitome. This richly illustrated book, featuring Joel Smith's astute text and a captivating introduction by the artist's friend and colleague Ian Frazier, explores the remarkable range and unceasing evolution of a major American modernist-one whose art reached a grateful public not from museum walls but from the pages of the periodical he called "my refuge, patria, and safety net."All Steinberg's New Yorker covers appear here in full color, along with over 130 examples of inside art, from black-line drawings to elaborate color portfolios. Also included are Steinberg's most beloved, intuitive, and brilliant inspirations, among them a New York populated with stoical cats, precocious children, puzzled couples, and a menagerie of vivid grotesques. A vibrant celebration of one of the most original and engaging artists of the 20th century, Steinberg at The New Yorker brings alive a genius, a magazine, and an era.
Author Bio: Joel Smith has been the Fisher Curator at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College since 1999. He is the author of Edward Steichen: The Early Years. Ian Frazier is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker. His previous books include the national bestseller Great Plains.
Synopsis
Steinberg published drawings in The New Yorker for nearly 60 years until his death in 1999, and no fan will want to be without this elegantly produced tribute, the first to draw on his collected papers and to posthumously study his life and work. Smith (Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College) supplies thoughtful text to accompany 89 New Yorker covers and a selection of some 500 drawings, arranged thematically (with chronology in the back seat). Aside from a couple exceptions that the editor could not resist, the drawings presented are ones that Steinberg approved for publication, the limitation being imposed out of respect for his close self-editing; some appeared in the magazine in black & white but are here reproduced in their original color. Writer Ian Frazier, Steinberg's long-time friend, provides a charming, personal introduction. The book is oversize: 10x12". Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
The New York Times - Charles Simic
Steinberg loved finding a visual equivalent for phrases like ''the pursuit of happiness'' or ''ship of state'' (which in his hand looked more like a ship of fools). As far as he was concerned, our views of nature, and of the nation, are ruled by clichés. He may have started as a wry observer of his fellow New Yorkers, but he ended up as a comic philosopher. One comes away from his work convinced that only a comic sensibility can grasp the character of our country and our national myths. Of course, what makes him one of the most original artists of the last century is not only his humor but also his ability as draftsman and painter. Although he is often left out of surveys of American art, he seems to me, on strictly aesthetic grounds, to be a much more considerable figure than many of his more famous contemporaries. This marvelous volume makes the point eloquently.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
With his mordant wit and edge of fantasy, Saul Steinberg was, for 60 years, an essential presence on The New Yorker's cover and interior pages. While respecting the cartoon as a form in its own right, this book is revelatory in uncovering the European roots and Surrealist inspiration behind Steinberg's oeuvre. If there was ever any doubt, this beautiful volume demonstrates that Steinberg was a great artist -- one deserving of a place among the great creators of 20th-century art.Charles Simic
Steinberg loved finding a visual equivalent for phrases like ''the pursuit of happiness'' or ''ship of state'' (which in his hand looked more like a ship of fools). As far as he was concerned, our views of nature, and of the nation, are ruled by clichés. He may have started as a wry observer of his fellow New Yorkers, but he ended up as a comic philosopher. One comes away from his work convinced that only a comic sensibility can grasp the character of our country and our national myths. Of course, what makes him one of the most original artists of the last century is not only his humor but also his ability as draftsman and painter. Although he is often left out of surveys of American art, he seems to me, on strictly aesthetic grounds, to be a much more considerable figure than many of his more famous contemporaries. This marvelous volume makes the point eloquently.— The New York Times