1940

Through Civita’s agency, ST drawings are published for the first time in US periodicals— Harper’s Bazaar (March 15), LIFE (September 27), and Town & Country (October)—as well as the Brazilian magazine Sombra.

1940.-Harper's-Bazaar-3.15.40-p.-61.

Two pages from “Persiflage from Paris,” Harper’s Bazaar, March 15, 1940, pp. 61, 60. — Two pages from “Persiflage from Paris,” *Harper’s Bazaar*, March 15, 1940, pp. 61, 60.

Two pages from “Speaking of Pictures: Life in the Guatavir Line,” LIFE, May 27, 1940. — Two pages from “Speaking of Pictures: Life in the Guatavir Line,” *LIFE*, May 27, 1940.

Drawing accompanying Oliver Wainright, “The Shot Heard Round the World,” Town & Country (October 1940). — Drawing accompanying Oliver Wainright, “The Shot Heard Round the World,” *Town & Country* (October 1940).

Cover and two inside drawings published in the Brazilian magazine Sombra (December 1940-January 1941).

March, passes his thesis exam at the Politecnico and receives his doctorate in architecture the following month. The diploma is made out to “Saul Steinberg…of the Hebrew race.”

Steinberg’s diploma from the Politecnico, dated April 16, 1940, and inscribed to “Saul Steinberg…di razza ebraica”—“of the Hebrew race.” Saul Steinberg Papers, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

Graduation ends his legal residence in Italy and he must find refuge elsewhere. His family and Civita fail to get him a US visa. Henrietta Danson enlists the aid of her boss, newspaper publisher Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr. Along with Civita, they approach the Dominican Republic Resettlement Association.

Letter from Cesar Civita to Henrietta Danson concerning his correspondence with Rebecca Rehyer of the Dominican Republic Resettlement Association, c. June 1940. Collection of Lawrence Danson.

Letter from Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr. to the Minister of the Dominican Republic in Washington, June 1, 1940. The Saul Steinberg Foundation.

July, receives a visa for the Dominican Republic and, from his family and Civita, a ticket on a boat leaving Lisbon for Ciudad Trujillo (now Santo Domingo) via New York. ST must obtain Spanish and Portuguese transit visas to get to Lisbon and a US transit visa to pass through New York.

September 6-7, with all but the US transit visa in hand, flies to Lisbon, but the Portuguese authorities stop him at the airport and force him to return to Milan. In May, his application for a tourist visa had been rejected because Portugal did not want an influx of “undesirable” Romanian Jews and he had been placed on an unwanted list by the secret police. The new transit visa had been issued in error. ST never knew why he had been turned back, but he always remembered September 6 as “my most dramatic disaster—my black Friday.”

Pages from Steinberg’s Romanian passport. Left, transit visa dated August 29, 1940, from the Portuguese Consul in Milan; right, transit visa dated September 3, 1940, from Spanish Consul in Rome. Saul Steinberg Papers, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

November, Bertoldo and Settebello resume publishing his drawings, but without signature; also publishes a few works in other Italian newspapers and magazines.

A Bertoldo cartoon by Steinberg published without signature. “Disegno con battuta” (“Gag drawing”), Bertoldo, March 8, 1941. “That’s my husband, he has an inferiority complex.” — A *Bertoldo* cartoon by Steinberg published without signature. “Disegno con battuta” (“Gag drawing”), *Bertoldo*, March 8, 1941. “That’s my husband, he has an inferiority complex.”

December, the Romanian legation in Rome refuses to renew his passport. He is now officially stateless and subject to arrest and internment; sometimes lives in his apartment but also hides in the homes of friends. Spends time with Ada, Buzzi, and other friends; reads, visits galleries, and goes to the movies.