Self-Portrait in Profile, Smoking
c.1986/1995
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
black felt-tip pen with cut-paper additions on wove paper in spiral-bound sketchbook
Dimensions
sheet: 35.56 × 27.94 cm (14 × 11 in.) book: 35.56 × 27.94 × 1.27 cm (14 × 11 × 1/2 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of The Saul Steinberg Foundation
Accession Number
2016.143.35.16
Art Historical Context
Saul Steinberg's *Self-Portrait in Profile Smoking* (c. 1986/1995) offers an intimate glimpse into the artist's wry self-reflection late in his illustrious career. Born in Romania and a longtime contributor to *The New Yorker*, Steinberg a master of whimsical, intellectually playful drawings that blurred the lines between illustration, caricature, and fine art. This profile view captures his distinctive features—prominent nose, bespectacled gaze, and a cigarette—rendered with the sharp wit characteristic of his modernist style, evoking influences from Surrealism and Dada while remaining unique...
About the Artist
Saul Steinberg
Saul Steinberg, born in 1914 in Râmnicu Sărat, Romania, to a family of Russian Jewish descent, navigated a peripatetic early career shaped by geopolitical upheaval and intellectual curiosity. After a brief stint at the University of Bucharest, he enrolled in 1933 at the Polytechnic University of Milan, earning a degree in architecture in 1940. There, he honed his graphic skills contributing satiri...