Chronology

Sections

1914

Born in Râmnicu Sărat, Romania, a town about 90 miles northeast of Bucharest, June 15, according to the Julian calendar then in use in Romania (June 28 in the Gregorian calendar); celebrates his birthday on one or both days. Parents, Rosa Iacobson and Moritz Steinberg. Older sister Lica born in 1913.

Steinberg’s parents, Rosa Iacobson and Moritz Steinberg, 1912

1915-1920

Early in 1915 family moves to Bucharest, where Moritz opens a small printing and bookbinding shop. The following year, when Romania enters World War I, he is conscripted for military service. Rosa and the children move to Buzău, where her parents and Moritz’s live. They return to Bucharest in 1919 when Moritz is demobilized and move to Strada Palas, 4. By the 1920s, Moritz has become a box manufacturer, producing decorative boxes for candy, cosmetics, and other consumer goods.

The Steinberg home at Strada Palas, 4, in Bucharest

Memory drawing of Strada Palas, 1978, with the Steinberg home at left. Black pencil on paper, 11 x 14 in. Saul Steinberg Papers, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

Saul and his sister, Lica, 1920. Collection of Daniela Roman.

<em>Strada Palas</em>, 1966. Graphite, pen, colored inks, watercolor, gouache, colored chalks, and gold enamel on paper, 23 x 29 in. Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Gift of the artist, through the America-Israel Cultural Foundation — *Strada Palas*, 1966. Graphite, pen, colored inks, watercolor, gouache, colored chalks, and gold enamel on paper, 23 x 29 in. Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Gift of the artist, through the America-Israel Cultural Foundation