Romanian American cartoonist and illustrator, who described himself as “a writer who draws”. Steinberg is best known for his work for The New Yorker, most notably View of the World from 9th Avenue that served as the cover of the 29 March 1976 edition. The work presents the view from Manhattan of the rest of the world showing Manhattan as the center of the world.
In 1938, the anti-Semitic racial laws promulgated by the Fascist government in Romania forced him to start seeking refuge in another country. In 1941, he fled to the Dominican Republic, where he spent a year awaiting a US visa. By then, his drawings had appeared in several US periodicals; his first contribution to The New Yorker was published 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 and was then seconded to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). He worked for the Morale Operations division in China, North Africa, and Italy. Shipped back to Washington in 1944, he married the Romanian-born painter Hedda Sterne.
In 1946, he was included in the critically acclaimed “Fourteen Americans” show at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, exhibiting along with Arshile Gorky, Isamu Noguchi, and Robert Motherwell, among others. Steinberg went on to have more than 80 one-artist shows in galleries and museums throughout the US, Europe, and South America.
Steinberg’s long, multifaceted career encompassed works in many media and appeared in different contexts. In addition to magazine publications and gallery art, he produced advertising art, photoworks, textiles, stage sets, and murals.
Steinberg and Sterne separated in 1960, but remained close friends. He died on 12 May 1999 at age 84 in New York City.
The Saul Steinberg Foundation was established in accordance with the artist’s will. The Foundation’s mission is “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.”
Link to Wikipedia biography