Spiral Forms
c.1986/1995
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
black felt-tip pen and blue-colored pencil 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
2016.143.35.32
Art Historical Context
Saul Steinberg's *Spiral Forms* (c. 1986/1995) captures the playful ingenuity of one of the 20th century's celebrated draftsmen. Born in Romania in 1914 and a longtime contributor to *The New Yorker*, Steinberg was a master of whimsical, illusionistic drawings that blurred the lines between reality and fantasy. This intimate work, housed in the National Gallery of Art as a gift from The Saul Steinberg Foundation, hails from his later years, reflecting a career spanning surreal cartoons, intricate maps, and architectural fantasies that charmed and challenged viewers. Rendered in black felt-tip...
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...