The prolific period around 1970 saw the addition of sculpture to Steinberg’s output, in the form of Drawing Table Reliefs, also known as Table Series—upright compositions filled with carved and painted trompe-l’oeil wood objects representing the implements of his trade, the things around his studio, the food on his plate, and even reiterations of his own work, past and present. To project the reliefs and accentuate their character as objects, each one was fitted with a raised plexiglass frame.
Table Series: Union Square, 1973. Mixed media on wood, 30 ¾ x 22 7/8 x 2 in. Institut du Dessin, Fondation Adami, Vaduz.Canal Street, 1990. Mixed media on wood, 31 x 23 x 2 ½ in. Private collection.Inventory, 1971. Mixed media on wood, 20 x 26 x 2 in. Private collection.North African Table, 1976. Mixed media on wood, 31 x 42 x 2 in. Private collection.The Pyramid Table, 1974-82. Mixed media on wood, 13 x 47 ½ x 2 in. Private collection.
By the 1980s, he was making fully three-dimensional sculptures, now set on custom-made tables, chairs, and stands.
Library, 1986-87. Mixed media on wood assemblage, 68 ½ x 31 x 23 in. Collection of Carol and Douglas Cohen.Hotel Metropole, 1987. Mixed media on wood assemblage, 37 x 4 x 18 in. The Saul Steinberg Foundation.Downtown, 1987. Mixed media on wood, 31 x 62 ¼ x 42 in. The JPMorgan Chase Collection, New York.Summer Table, 1981. Mixed media on wood assemblage, 57 x 80 x 36 in. Private collection.Gulliver Table (detail), 1986. Carved wood, oil, colored pencil, crayon, copper, tin, mental handle and string, 36 ½ x 27 ¾ x 26. The Saul Steinberg Foundation, New York.
Here, with the same kind of carved objects used in the reliefs, Steinberg created still lifes, furnished rooms, and whole cityscapes.The relief sculptures were immediately preceded by drawings with similar elements,
Album, 1969. Collage of four drawings on board, with ink, varnish, crayon, pencil, gilt paper, and rubber stamps, 22 ¼ x 30 ½ in. Centre Pompidou, Paris.
and both media evolved from another constant in Steinberg’s art:his long engagement with imagery of the generic artist at work, whether human or animal (the cat was a favorite Steinberg stand-in).
Drawing in The New Yorker, February 3, 1945.Untitled, 1948. Ink on paper, 14 ¼ x 11 ¼ in. Saul Steinberg Papers, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.Drawing in The New Yorker, July 10, 1954.Drawing in The New Yorker, February 27, 1954.Untitled, 1967. Ink and pencil on paper, 19 ¾ x 12 ½ in. Yale University Art Gallery; Charles B. Benenson, B.A. 1933, Collection.Untitled, 1963. Ink on paper, 20 ½ x 14 3/8 in. Collection of Daniela Roman.Drawing in The New Yorker, November 30, 1963.Drawing in The New Yorker, August 9, 1947.The Spiral, 1966. Ink on paper, 19 x 25 ¼ in. The Menil Collection, Houston.The Spiral, 1966. Pencil and colored pencil on paper, 19 5/8 x 25 ½ in. Private collection.Untitled, 1966. Ink and rubber stamp on paper, 19 x 24 7/8 in. The Saul Steinberg Foundation.Untitled, 1950. Ink, colored pencil, pencil, and collage on paper, 14 ½ x 23 ½ in. The Morgan Library & Museum, New York; Gift of The Saul Steinberg Foundation.
These surveys of the creative act often fix on the transformative nature of the line that was the wellspring of his art: the-hand-holds-the-pen-drawing-the-line, no matter whether that pen produces a calligraphic flourish, a confused scribble, blank sheets of paper, geometric designs, or even the artist generating himself.
