1957

March, ST and Hedda leave for an extended trip to France, Italy, and Spain. After visiting his parents in Nice, they drive south through Italy, arriving in Rome in early April.

May, in Spain—Granada, Madrid, San Sebastián, and other seaside resorts. But he tires of playing the tourist, writing to Aldo Buzzi, “The big tour of Europe was a mistake. I’m still thinking of spending a year in Italy.”

Page from a sketchbook, Spain, 1957. Saul Steinberg Papers, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Page from a sketchbook, Spain, 1957. Saul Steinberg Papers, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Page from a sketchbook, Spain, 1957. Saul Steinberg Papers, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Page from a sketchbook, Spain, 1957. Saul Steinberg Papers, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

June, ST and Hedda return to New York; by August they are in Wellfleet.

August 26, receives a telegram from his mother in Nice that his sister, Lica Roman, brother-in-law, Ilie (Rica) Roman, and their two children, Stéphane and Daniela, have secured permission to leave Bucharest with visas for Israel. Around September 1, ST flies to Italy.

Steinberg’s sister, Lica Roman, in Bucharest, c. 1955. Collection of Daniela Roman.
Steinberg’s sister, Lica Roman, in Bucharest, c. 1955. Collection of Daniela Roman.

The Romans arrive in Vienna, then travel by train to Genoa, where ST meets them on September 5. He now has to secure French visas for them before September 16, when they are scheduled to leave for Israel. Through many phone calls and cables, he calls in favors and manages to get the visas in time. By September 12, they are all in Nice, reunited with the parents. ST now supports six people.

September, begins correspondence with his friend, the architect, interior designer, and author Bernard Rudofsky, about a monumental mural commission for the US Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair. Rudofsky, along with his partner Peter G. Harnden, are the architects for the interior exhibitions. Mid-December, accepts the commission.

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