Saul Steinberg: A Biography Part 38

"temporary ... improvised": ST to AB, June 12, 1974, SSF.

"f.u.c.king patria": ST wrote this in a diary entry on his seventy-seventh birthday, June 15, 1997, YCAL, Box 75. Immediately after, he wrote: "Unfortunately all my landscapes, smells, sounds, tastes, are there. Houses, courtyards, sky, mountain, snow."

He wondered if his disposition: ST to AB, September 25, 1972, SSF.

"in harmony for the moment": ST to AB, January 24, 1973, SSF.

"a nightmare": ST to AB, January 24, 1973, SSF.

"depressing, disaster": ST to AB, September 8, 1973, SSF.

"biting its own tail": Edith Schloss, "Around the European Galleries," International Herald-Tribune, October 2728, 1973.

Steinberg had occasionally used de Bloe: After de Bloe bought several watercolors from the exhibition, Steinberg instructed him to send the $4,000 payment directly to Aldo, who was to keep $3,000 and send the remaining $1,000 to Ada. AB thanks ST, December 7, 1973, YCAL, Box 102, for money that brought tranquillity to a stressful financial period.

Although the Internal Revenue Service: Serge de Bloe to ST, December 18, 1973, YCAL, Box 102. He tells ST he sent the check per ST's instructions. Letters from the IRS and ST's tax accountants in YCAL, Box 101, verify that he was being audited, that he was late in paying previous years' taxes, and that he had applied for an extension of the April 15, 1973, deadline. The amounts ST contributed often exceeded the amount permitted as gifts.

Until now he had never volunteered: In an undated letter in YCAL, Box 101, Ada asks ST where the television he promised to send her is.

"doing a good or bad thing": ST to AB, December 3, 1973, SSF.

Mary McCarthy came: McCarthy thanked him for the dance in a letter, October 19, 1973, YCAL, Box 102. Information that follows until noted otherwise is from this letter.

He sent almost the entire amount: Mary McCarthy to ST, November 7, 1973, to thank him for the money, and again on December 12, 1973, to tell him of progress made; YCAL, Box 102.

He was generous with his work: Marten Bogner bought the McGovern-Shriver painting; Frances...o...b..ien, March 28, 1972, thanked ST on behalf of Spanish refugees. Both in YCAL, Box 102. On July 13, 1975, O'Brien wrote again to thank ST for a second contribution, an original four-color print; YCAL, Box 103.

Judith Hope, who was running for reelection: On June 18, 1985, Judith Hope wrote to tell ST that she wanted him to hear from her first that she was withdrawing from the campaign; YCAL, Box 103.

He gave permission: The work was from the May 25, 1968, issue, pp. 3637, 4041; the anthology was published by Dell.

Shortly after, the group asked him: National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee to ST, n.d., YCAL, Box 102; letter confirming his promise to create "only the front cover," May 8, 1975.

But when the National Lawyers Guild: The first letter is undated, the second is February 26, 1974, YCAL, Box 103.

It was not a politically correct thing to do: Letter of invitation, April 4, 1972, YCAL, Box 102.

His work had always been of interest: Agarwal, "Steinberg's Treatment of the Theme of the Artist," with several interviews beginning December 8, 1972, YCAL, Box 78.1; Ralph Neubeck, "A Biographical Critique of Steinberg's Work with Particular Emphasis on Its Relationship to the American Culture and Sense of Humor, with Particular Emphasis on the Humorous Content," PhD dissertation, University of Minnesota, Department of American Studies, 1972; Ralph Neubeck to ST, January 20 and March 24, 1972, YCAL, Box 102.

the cartoonist Garry Trudeau: Garry Trudeau to ST, n.d., YCAL, Box 102.

Steinberg's work even penetrated the Romanian Iron Curtain: Nick Luddington of a.s.sociated Press to ST, October 21, 1974, YCAL, Box 103; Matty Aslan to ST, Bucharest, 2 ionie, 1974, YCAL, Box 103. To prevent government intervention, Luddington asked ST to send any replies to Aslan through him, and a brief exchange ensued between them. Examples of Rosa Steinberg's embroidery, including ST's bib from his 1914 birth, with his name in pink thread in chain st.i.tch on ecru lace, are in YCAL, Box 71.

He had met Susan Sontag: According to the appeal, Sontag had a radical mastectomy in October 1975 and had no medical insurance to pay for it or money to support her son, David Rieff.

He provided the jacket drawing: Hollander was published by Oxford University Press; YCAL, Box 103.

When Nora Ephron: Nora Ephron to ST, March 26, 1975, YCAL, Box 103.

Most recently he and Nabokov had disagreed: ST wrote to AB, March 5, 1975, giving hints of his conversation with Nabokov about a biography of Courbet. Of the biography, ST wrote: "Writers of biographies understand only other writers (as shown in diaries, letters, etc.)." Of Courbet: "Poor Courbet. When he wrote a letter he showed only his worst. His originality or uniqueness was involuntary, that of an animal that by some miracle painted, with naturally the great refinement and precision of beasts."

"maybe it could be done": ST to AB, February 1 and 27, 1974, SSF.

gave great care to nominating: An example of his political discretion came when he wanted to nominate Christo: ST enlisted George Rickey to propose Christo, and he and Isamu Noguchi seconded. He and Saul Bellow worked to secure William Gaddis's membership. YCAL, Box 94.

Awards and accolades from other inst.i.tutions: A list of ST's honorary degrees in SSF lists the following: Lawrence College, 1962; Harvard, 1976; Philadelphia College of Art, 1977; New York University, 1978; Royal College of Art, 1988; Yale, 1989. A photocopy without date, in Latin, is from "Moderamini Academiae Regiae Artium n.o.bilium in Urbe Hagana," which Sheila Schwartz believes is from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague. In 1983 ST was nominated for election to the Accademia Intern.a.z.ionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome, but SSF has no record that he was elected or that he accepted. A partial list of other honors include Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, 1966; American Academy and Inst.i.tute of Arts and Letters, 1968; Benjamin Franklin Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce, London, 1969; Die Bayerische Akademie der Schonen Kunste, 1972; National Inst.i.tute of Arts and Letters, Gold Medal for Eminence in Graphic Art, 1974; Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, medal for drawing, 1976; AIA Medal, the American Inst.i.tute of Architects, May 1976; American Academy of Arts and Sciences, fellow, 1978; [New York City] Mayor's Award of Honor for Arts and Culture, 1983.

"impossible to witness": ST to Mrs. G. Walter Zahn and Richard Seyffert, October 31, 1976, YCAL, Box 103.

Philip Johnson was the presenter: Philip Johnson Papers, I.109, Museum of Modern Art Archives, NY; published in Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, 1975, p. 21; copy in YCAL, Box 103.

He was alarmed when one of the women: ST to AB, May 4, 1974, SSF. The woman was known only as Erika.

"What does this sadness mean?": ST to AB, June 12, 1974, SSF.

He kept in touch with Chiaromonte's widow: Miriam Chiaramonte, articles and obituaries in YCAL, Box 102. In Box 22, letter of July 26, 1977, she thanks ST for signing a protest letter for Polish dissidents: "It's fine that you gave your name."

His brother-in-law, Rica Roman: ST to AB, February 27, 1974, SSF.

Steinberg gave her the happy news: ST to Lica Roman, May 14, 1975, YCAL, Box 22.

He wondered if her low spirits: ST to AB, May 24, 1975, SSF.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX: SADNESS LIKE AN ILLNESS.

"I've found and taken a good look": ST to AB, October 9, 1975, SSF.

Lica's death at the relatively young age: ST to AB, July 19, 1975, SSF; Dana Roman and Stephane Roman, interviews, January, 2008.

"sadness was like an illness": ST to AB, July 19, 1975, SSF.

"depressed, scared in the morning": ST to AB, March 5, 1975, SSF.

All the while she had been with him: ST to AB, May 24, 1975, SSF.

A number of interesting projects resulted: Some of SS's other commissions included Cynthia Griffin Wolff, A Feast of Words: The Triumph of Edith Wharton; Richard Eberhart, Fields of Grace; William H. Pritchard, Lives of the Modern Poets; and Peter Conrad, Imagining America. All in YCAL, Box 32.

"ideas were more developed": Letters of rejection from the Whitney's personnel department and from Barbara Toll, director of Hundred Acres Gallery, February 1973 and 1975, YCAL, Box 108.

"Of course I still love you": ST to SS, July 9, 1976, YCAL, Box 104, Folder "Paris Milano 1976 Jan 27July 10."

Before Anton could do the actual packing: To help ST decide, Anton took photos of the studio so that ST could re-create various arrangements where he wanted them. The photos are in van Dalen's personal collection.

"the brutal image of the end of life": In an interview with Mark Stevens, Newsweek, April 17, 1978, pp. 12426, in conjunction with his 1978 WMAA retrospective, ST is quoted as saying that he is "a voyeur of himself." Some of the stamps he collected include birds, JFK, and reproductions of art. These and various brochures are found in YCAL, Box 32, and also in some of the other uncatalogued boxes.

He asked anyone traveling to Bucharest ST to Bert Chernow, interview for Christo and Jeanne-Claude; W. D. Snodgra.s.s to ST, October 13, 1973, YCAL, Box 22; "Humphrey" [Sutton?], photographs of Strada Palas, 1973, YCAL, Box 22; Norman Manea, interview, June 11, 2008.

"an emotional orgy": ST to Henri Cartier-Bresson, February 28, 1999, YCAL, Box 73.

Ada's letter was especially poignant: Ada to ST, n.d., YCAL, Box 38; ST to AB, May 24, 1975, SSF. Other letters from (among many) Sidney Janis, Cartier-Bresson, the Ionesco family, and Bram van Velde are scattered throughout YCAL boxes, among them 38 and 75.

With Lica gone, he grew closer to Ada: Lica's term is found throughout her correspondence with ST, SSF; Ada's "olino" is a diminutive of "Saulino."

He stayed on in Springs: ST to AB, November 10, 1975, SSF.

"who keeps writing wonders": ST to AB, March 8, 1975, SSF. ST was probably referring to Hammett's The Big Knockover (New York: Random House, 1966), edited by h.e.l.lmann, and to her first memoir, An Unfinished Woman (New York: Bantam Books, 1969).

"Joyce's illegitimate son": ST to AB, August 15, 1976, SSF. ST had just read The Buenos Aires Affair, which he called "a novel disguised as a detective story." He also recommended Betrayed by Rita Hayworth and later, in the 1990s, he liked The Kiss of the Spider Woman, both the book and the movie. Mainly he preferred European biography and fiction, such as the two novelists whose work he was currently exploring, Elsa Morante and Heinrich Boll.

His recommendations often came: Claire Nivola, "Menu," atop which ST has affixed two rubber stamp impressions of Millet's Angelus; collection of Claire Nivola.

"more contemporary and more historical": Claire Nivola, telephone conversation, April 29, 1908.

His most recent suggestion: ST to AB, May 10, 1976, SSF, in which he tells AB that Barthes is to write the introduction for the next DLM but that he had not yet read anything by Barthes. He planned to go to Paris in June 1976 specifically to meet Barthes and discuss what he would write. Although the two met as friends then and on other occasions, Barthes did not write for DLM, but he did supply the text for the 1983 book All Except You. In Claire Nivola to ST, May 17, 1975, she tells him that she forgot the t.i.tle he wrote when he told her to read something of Barthes's so they could talk about it; YCAL, Box 104. On May 26, 1976, postcard in possession of Claire Nivola, he thanks her for an unnamed Barthes book: "-very difficult to understand. The obvious (to me) as explained by him-It's his art."

This a.s.sertion led him to: Roger Shattuck, The Banquet Years: The Origins of the Avant-Garde in France, 1885 to World War I (New York: Vintage Books, 1958), p. 208. ST's copy is in YCAL, Box 32. ST was also reading Shattuck's Proust's Binoculars (New York: Random House, 1963).

"closed, complete": ST to AB, March 8, 1975, SSF.

"completely lost faith": ST to AB, June 19, 1976, SSF.

After not having a single cover: ST to AB, October 23, 1976, SSF. The exhibition, "Steinberg Cartoons," opened on November 17 and ran through December 4 (Parsons) and 11 (Janis).

"Manhattanite dystopias": S:I, p. 67; see also fig. 69 on that page, for Steinberg, Papoose, and the wall of drawings. Note also that he has regrown the mustache he cut off shortly after he met Sigrid and she objected to it. The TNY cover for October 20, 1975, is a compilation of his grotesque head shots.

He took renewed pleasure: A collection of these drawings was published as Dal Vero (New York: Library Fellows of the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1983).

While Ruth seethed: This account is based on interviews with Hedda Sterne, Aldo Buzzi, Ruth Nivola, Claire Nivola, Dore Ashton, Ivan Chermayeff, Vita Peterson, and many others. Chermayeff offered the most succinct appraisal of the difference between the two men: ST "was a bit of a s.h.i.t. He was a self-oriented guy and he was not nice. Tino and Saul were exact opposites. Tino was outgoing, friendly, encouraging to others, a great person. Saul behaved to lots of people in the same snotty manner as he treated Tino. Genius or not, [ST] was not a nice guy. He had certain things missing from his life, which is probably why he loved Tino and Ruth. They are sophisticated, too, but they are simple, warm, and direct people. I think Saul was envious of their ability to go forward and do their own work. I think Saul was jealous. He was aware of the life they led and that they represented something he was not capable of being."

Tino invited Saul to help him hunt: This was something ST and Nivola had done for many years: in a letter to Claire Nivola, October 25, 1976, in her possession, ST relates how they went mushroom hunting "across the dunes from the fish factory."

"in boarding houses in Milan": ST to AB, May 10, 1976, SSF.

One of the things he liked best: ST, diary, June 12, 1991, YCAL, Box 75. ST was also reading Nabokov's Speak, Memory and unnamed books by Wittgenstein and Canetti.

"I'm following your advice": ST to AB, August 15, 1976, SSF.

To thank Aldo for his concern: ST to AB, January 29, 1976. He also told AB that Rosa Esman, a gallery owner in New York, would be sending checks for $600; he was to keep half and send the rest to Ada, who had broken her arm. On March 25, 1976, he wrote again to tell Aldo that a $4,000 check would come to him; he was to keep $1,000 and the rest was to be sent to Lica Roman's children, Stephane and Dana. On June 19, 1976, he wrote that he would tell Aldo about his "dependent niece and nephew."

He was engaged by a text: First published 1979 by Adelphi Edizioni, S.P.A. Milano; translated by Guido Waldman for Bloomsbury, New York, and not published until 2005. Fourteen drawings by ST that he sent to AB from the 1950s on were all reprinted with permission from SSF.

"I'm a little depressed": ST to AB, October 23, 1976, SSF.

"next year with pleasure": ST, telegram to Aime Maeght, September 1976, copy at SSF; ST to AB, October 23, 1976, SSF.

Maeght instructed them to go to Springs: ST to AB, November 16, 1976, SSF.

He told Aldo he wanted: ST to AB, January 19, 1976, SSF.

But instead of cheering him up: The YCAL boxes contain articles about how to have s.e.x after ninety, medical folders about which positions to a.s.sume after hip surgery or if suffering from chronic arthritis, and, when he was in his eighties, numerous articles and pamplets about the use of v.i.a.g.r.a. There are also many guarded references to women who probably rebuffed his advances, but he does not commit the actual details to paper.

"many emotional reactions": ST to AB, November 16, 1976, SSF.

"comfortably and naturally": ST, Alexander Calder memorial service, Whitney Museum of American Art, December 6, 1976, copy in SSF files.

"getting tongue-tied": ST to AB, December 12, 1976, SSF.

He thought Calvino's preface: ST to AB, March 24, 1977, SSF.

The show was to open on May 11, 1977: He referred to the adult children of his aunt Sali Marcovici, who were his contemporaries The Romanian letters in the YCAL boxes, copies at SSF, verify that he still sent them all regular financial stipends.

"big worries": ST to AB, April 1, 1977, SSF.

"A retrospective usually comes": Alexander Lindey to ST, May 1, 1978, YCAL, Box 61.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN: THE MAN WHO DID THAT POSTER.

"There is no frontier": Undated transcript of a dialogue between ST and HR, catalogued as 7B-3 and 4, HR/Getty.

"the man who did that poster": Sarah Boxer, ST obituary, New York Times, May 13, 1999, pp. 1, B10.

"one of the very rare times": ST to Claire Nivola, March 6, 1967, in her archives. The anecdote was also used in S:I, Catalogue 65, pp. 18485, and Smith, Steinberg at the New Yorker, p. 136.

As she described her intentions: Dorothy Norman, The Heroic Encounter (New York: Grove, 1958). The Willard Gallery exhibition was the same year.

In 1966 he did a series of drawings: Published on October 1, 8, and 15. The drawing where the artist is poised over the Pacific Ocean and looking at the city is reproduced in S:I, p. 70.

Beyond the city, a sun peeked: Reproduced in S:I, p. 71, fig. 77, discussed in Catalogue 75.

There was only a power station: For an idea of how the painting evolved, see Saul Steinberg: Fifty Works from the Collection of Silvia and Jeffrey Loria, pp. 4149, figs. 1823. The first drawing was colored pencil and graphite on paper; the last was colored pencil, crayon, watercolor, ink, and graphite on paper. All the drawings were signed lower right. For an extension of the idea expressed in "9th Avenue," see Saul Steinberg: Drawing into Being, catalogue, Pace-Wildenstein, New York, October 130, 1999, pp. 6872, "Looking West," 1986, and "Looking East," 1986.

In another version, "Jersey" showed up: On a copy that he sent to his cousin Judith Steinberg Ba.s.sow, ST made a mark on a boulder where Denver, Colorado, might have been and wrote her name there, "Judy," followed by the comment: "This shows Judy on the mountain ... love from Saul Steinberg 1976." I am grateful to Ms. Ba.s.sow for this and other photocopies of ST's work in her possession.

Steinberg's ordinary "crummy" New Yorkers: S:I, p. 241, n. 146, in which Joel Smith quotes an e-mail from PC, January 4, 2004; Smith, Steinberg at The New Yorker, p. 42.

"glued to the television": ST to AB, June 28, 1973, SSF.