Steinberg

February 11, 2005 12:35 PM

Saul Steinberg exhibition.
posted by semmi (8 comments total)

Great stuff. Steinberg is one of those people who quietly influenced a lot of the culture without becoming a household name. Even the View from 9th Avenue, which has been knocked off at least 100 times and is known to the entire English-speaking world, is something I bet 95% people who recognize the image would not be able to name the artist.

Another example: The artist creating himself from 1948. Made me wonder what year Escher did his own well-known version of the same concept - guess when? And how many people have seen a version of this on a T-shirt or poster? He was always thinking just outside the box, and the box would eventually grow to include that thinking.

This is not to dismiss his other artistic qualities, but it's something I find fascinating about him, and I'm eager to learn even more. Thanks for the post.
posted by soyjoy at 12:46 PM on February 11, 2005

Steinberg did a particularly wonderful series of works with rubber stamps. (see: The Art of Living. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1949)
He was a real visionary who tilled the same absurd fields as the Dadaists, Fluxists, and Surrealists.

If the Cy Twombly exhibit at The Whitney does not get me to NYC soon, this will.
posted by bmr at 1:02 PM on February 11, 2005

Get yourselves the Complete Cartoons of the New Yorker book/CD-ROM --- its greatest feature is being able to see ALL the works by a particular artist in one fell swoop. The combined search results for Steinberg are undoubtedly the most creative and experimental of any in the collection.
posted by Robot Johnny at 1:31 PM on February 11, 2005

Funny you should mention that, RJ - I got the book and made myself read all the cartoons (oh, the torture!) in the book before cracking out the CD-ROMs. Just got through 'em all, so this weekend is the time!
posted by soyjoy at 1:58 PM on February 11, 2005

Thanks for this, semmi. I was just paging through Inge Morath's photos in Masquerade a few days ago. Wonderfully whimsical stuff.
posted by mediareport at 7:59 PM on February 11, 2005

I love it! Oh to be closer to NY.
posted by yoga at 5:25 AM on February 12, 2005

Another Steinberg fan here. Oh to be closer to NY.
posted by languagehat at 6:47 AM on February 12, 2005

Thank you.
Too bad the e-mail link to the gallery doesn't seem to work.
posted by Julie at 10:06 AM on February 12, 2005