Saul Steinberg

Saul Steinberg, best known for his contributions to The New Yorker, created drawings, sculptures, photographs, and collages that provoke ongoing critical reflection.

Biography of Saul Steinberg

Saul Steinberg was born in 1914 in Râmnicu Sărat, Romania, in a Jewish family. In 1932, he began his studies at the University of Bucharest. A year later, he enrolled at the Polytechnic University of Milan to pursue architecture.

During this time, starting in 1936, he began contributing cartoons to the humor newspaper Bertoldo. However, in 1938, the anti-Semitic racial laws imposed by the Fascist government compelled him to seek refuge in another country.

In 1941, he escaped to the Dominican Republic, where he spent a year waiting for a US visa. During this period, his drawings had already been featured in various US periodicals, with his debut contribution to The New Yorker appearing in October 1941.

Steinberg arrived in New York City in July 1942. Within a few months, he received a commission in the US Naval Reserve. He served in the Morale Operations division, undertaking assignments in China, North Africa, and Italy. Returning to Washington in 1944, he married the Romanian-born painter Hedda Sterne.

After World War II, the artist continued to contribute drawings to The New Yorker and various other periodicals, such as Fortune, Vogue, Mademoiselle, and Harper's Bazaar. Simultaneously, he launched an exhibition career in galleries and museums. In 1946, he gained acclaim for his participation in the "Fourteen Americans" exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, alongside artists like Arshile Gorky, Isamu Noguchi, and Robert Motherwell. 

Steinberg's career spanned various media and contexts. In addition to his contributions to magazines and galleries, he created advertising art, photography, textiles, stage sets, and murals. With such a multifaceted body of work, it proves challenging to categorize his contributions within the frameworks of postwar art history.

The artist died in 1999. Following his passing, The Saul Steinberg Foundation was established in accordance with his wishes.