Saul Steinberg
Saul Steinberg (1914–1999) was a Romanian-born American artist, cartoonist, illustrator, and “writer who draws.” Explore his life, unique visual voice, and the quotes that continue to inspire artists and thinkers.
Introduction
Saul Steinberg (June 15, 1914 – May 12, 1999) was a singular figure in 20th-century art: part cartoonist, part satirist, part conceptual thinker, and part visual poet. Though best known for his long association with The New Yorker, he refused confinement to any single label—he described himself as “a writer who draws.”
His drawings, maps, caricatures, and illustrated essays exposed the absurdities of modern life, urban existence, and the invisible structures behind daily routines. His art invites us to see not just what is, but how we perceive what is.
Early Life and Family
Saul was born in Râmnicu Sărat, Romania, to a Jewish family.
In Italy, he began publishing drawings and cartoons (for example in the satirical publication Bertoldo).
Migration, U.S. Arrival & War Years
In the early 1940s, Steinberg fled Europe and ultimately made his way to the Americas. The New Yorker began via submitted drawings while he awaited the ability to enter the U.S. New York City in 1942, where he later served (via the U.S. Naval Reserve and the Office of Strategic Services) in wartime efforts.
Throughout, he maintained an independence of spirit: he never let institutional categories fully define him.
Career and Achievements
The New Yorker & Visual Essays
Steinberg contributed hundreds of illustrations to The New Yorker, many of which combined wit, urban insight, and visual metaphor. “View of the World from 9th Avenue,” which humorously compresses geography to reflect New York’s parochial outlook.
He also worked in galleries, published art books, created murals, executed collages, stage designs, and more.
Style & Approach
Steinberg’s work often dwells in the intersection of humor, absurdity, and observation. He used simple line, minimalism, and metaphor to reveal cultural quirks, urban rhythms, and the invisible assumptions behind everyday life.
He refused to confine himself to “high art” or “cartooning” alone, instead traversing both domains.
Recognitions & Legacy
Over his lifetime, Steinberg had over 80 solo shows in galleries and museums across the U.S., Europe, and South America. Saul Steinberg Foundation was established to preserve and promote his art.
Even today, artists, cartoonists, illustrators, and designers look to his blend of visual wit and intellectual rigor as a model.
Historical & Cultural Context
Steinberg’s life spanned dramatic changes: from interwar Europe and the rise of fascism, through World War II, to the postwar ascendance of New York as an artistic capital.
He maintained a unique position as a “transatlantic artist,” rooted in European sensibility but deeply engaged in the American urban condition.
His work engages with modernism’s contradictions: the city, identity, mass culture, mapping, and abstraction.
Personality, Philosophy & Creative Outlook
Steinberg was thoughtful, ironic, often self-aware, and curious. He believed that drawing was a method of reasoning: using lines to think.
He preferred to start fresh — a creative rebirth — rather than rest on established style. In one reflection, he said it is “very important for people to run away … from the society that produced them … to start all over again.”
He also enjoyed juxtaposing the ordinary and the absurd — letting a single line speak volumes.
Selected Quotes
Here are some memorable quotes of Saul Steinberg that capture his perspective:
-
“I am among the few who continue to draw after childhood is ended, continuing and perfecting childhood drawing — without the traditional interruption of academic training.”
-
“Questions are fiction, and answers are anything from more fiction to science-fiction.”
-
“The frightening thought that what you draw may become a building makes for reasoned lines.”
-
“A beautiful woman can be painted as a totem only; not as a woman, but as a Madonna, a queen, a sphinx.”
-
“The artist is an educator of artists of the future … perform unexpected — the best — evolutions.”
-
“I think it is very important for people to run away … from home … from the society … To start all over again.”
These lines resonate not only for their wit, but for their philosophical depth.
Lessons from Saul Steinberg
From Steinberg’s life and work, several lessons emerge:
-
Draw to think
Treat art as inquiry — lines are not mere decoration but tools for thought. -
Keep freshness alive
Resist stylistic comfort. Begin again so your art never calcifies. -
Bridge “low” and “high”
Don’t accept boundaries between cartooning and fine art. Creativity thrives at the edges. -
Perception over appearance
Much of his work shows that what we see is shaped by expectations, narratives, and mental maps. -
Humor and irony as insight
Wit isn’t frivolous — it can expose hidden truth.
Conclusion
Saul Steinberg was more than an illustrator or cartoonist — he was a visual philosopher, a mapmaker of perception, and a master of the line. His legacy lies not just in cartoons or covers, but in how he taught us to see, question, and redraw the everyday world.