Thought Balloons

Steinberg’s more conceptual shift around 1960 also led to the full realization of visual devices he had flirted with earlier, among them, the thought balloon. The words in the dialogue bubbles that had long served cartoons and comic books as narrative containers metamorphosed into images; or, as in The Americans, translated into faux calligraphy to signal the mindless chatter of a cocktail party.

Drawing in <em>The New Yorker</em>, October 17, 1942 — Drawing in *The New Yorker*, October 17, 1942

Drawing in <em>The New Yorker</em>, June 30, 1962 — Drawing in *The New Yorker*, June 30, 1962

<em>Cocktail Party</em>, from <em>The Americans</em>, 1958. Brussels, Musée Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique. — *Cocktail Party*, from *The Americans*, 1958. Brussels, Musée Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique.

<em>Untitled [Paris-Sardinia]</em>, 1963. Ink, ballpoint, crayon, watercolor colored pencil, and pencil on paper, 23 1/8 x 14 3/8 in. The Art Institute of Chicago; Gift of The Saul Steinberg Foundation — *Untitled [Paris-Sardinia]*, 1963. Ink, ballpoint, crayon, watercolor colored pencil, and pencil on paper, 23 1/8 x 14 3/8 in. The Art Institute of Chicago; Gift of The Saul Steinberg Foundation

Confusion in the face of new technologies is rendered as a hodge-podge of doodles. Elsewhere, a stodgy capital E imagines self-improvement in the form of a slender, accented French letter.

“The Communications Explosion.” Cover of <em>TIME</em>, May 14, 1965. — “The Communications Explosion.” Cover of *TIME*, May 14, 1965.

Cover of <em>The New Yorker</em>, May 25, 1963 — Cover of *The New Yorker*, May 25, 1963

And then romance: a man dreams that his woman is dreaming of him; a male 5 and a female 2 sit across a table, the 5 envisioning the mathematical calculations that will seal their relationship.