The man who, like a tightrope walker, oscillates all his life between drawing and text, lines and letters, began, at the end of the 1920s, a course in literature and philosophy at the University of Bucharest.
But the rise of anti-Semitism in his native Romania forced Saul Steinberg to flee to Italy in 1933. It was in Rome that he studied architecture and began publishing cartoons in satirical journals.
At the very moment when Europe is rigorously heading towards his suicide, the artist flees again. He finds refuge in New York in the United States. The columns of the New Yorker welcome his pen. He collaborated with the magazine for almost 60 years. The writer and semiologist Rolland Barthes sees in him the singer of subversion. His drawings are as many magnifying mirrors of the society he represents.
Saul Steinberg (1941-1999)
Bridge n°132, 1953
Encre de chine sur papier
Signé et daté en bas à droite
57,5 x 74 cm
Provenance: Daniel Varenne, Galerie Le Clos de Sierne, Genève
Result: 26 000 euros
Collector and gallery owner Daniel Varenne owned several works by Saul Steinberg, including a Chinese ink on paper entitled Florida, produced in 1953. It was sold at the auction organised by PIASA on 22 October 2019. A palm tree, symbol of this state, seems to be at the centre of the composition. The long framing of this urban view is reminiscent of the drawing "View of the World from the 9th Avenue", so many times imitated and plagiarized, which made the front page of the New Yorker in 1976. The very lively and dynamic style is no less subtle and delicate. It was presented as part of the exhibition "Saul Steinberg, l'écriture visuelle" devoted to the artist in 2010 at the Tomi Ungerer Museum in Strasbourg.
Saul Steinberg (1941-1999)
Bridge n°132, 1953
Encre de chine sur papier
Signé et daté en bas à droite
57,5 x 74 cm
Provenance: Daniel Varenne, Galerie Le Clos de Sierne, Genève
Result: 26 000 euros
Offered for sale during the same session organised by the Modern and Contemporary Art Department of PIASA, Bridge n°132 was also produced in 1953. Here, despite the dreamlike and fantastic dimension of the architectural elements, it is more the topography of Manhattan that is highlighted. The contrast is between the small stone bridge referring to antiquity and the immensity of the metal structures in the background that fill the entire height of the imaginary landscape.
Uncle Sam U.S.A., drawn some ten years later, is a perfect illustration of how Saul Steinberg perceived his craft, halfway between text and image. It shows a character - wearing Uncle Sam's beard and hat - holding his painting kit. The motifs he draws on the wall appear to be inscriptions.
The artist with the many faces is photographed in January 1947 by Irving Pen, pencil and paper in hand, as it should be.
Irving Penn (1917-2009)
Saul Steinberg, 29 janvier 1947-58, New York
Tirage argentique sur papier
Signé, daté, situé annoté et tamponné du cachet de l'artiste au dos
21 x 18,5 cm
Provenance : Galerie Daniel Varenne, Genève
Results: 12 350 euros
