Steinberg, Saul

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Saul Steinberg, photograph by Arnold Newman, 1951.—© Arnold Newman

(born June 15, 1914, Râmnicu Sarat, Rom.—died May 12, 1999, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Romanian-born U.S. cartoonist and illustrator. He studied architecture in Milan, meanwhile publishing cartoons in Italian magazines. Settling in New York City in 1942, he worked as a freelance artist, illustrator, and cartoonist, mainly for The New Yorker. His extraordinarily original and instantly recognizable works are often surrealistic or whimsically nightmarish visions of contemporary America and frequently employ odd versions of pop-culture icons. His subject matter ranges from the whimsical (e.g., a wicker chair overtaken by its curlicues) to the satirical (sinister, overgrown gadgets) to the philosophical (a tiny figure perched on a giant question mark balanced at the edge of an abyss).

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