by Deirdre Bair
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO: SUCH A DIDACTIC COUNTRY
“The Washington experience is over now”: ST to AB, June 2, 1967.
“Ah, America”: IF, interview, October 12, 2007.
It was a blessing to be excused: Charles Blitzer to ST, April 13, 1967, YCAL, Box 16.
His stipend for the three months: S. Dillon Ripley, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, to ST, February 23, 1967, YCAL, Box 16. In Owen Edwards, “Doodle Dandy,” Smithsonian, May 2007, p. 41, ST’s stipend was given as $11,000 and his acceptance letter is quoted as saying he would stay “for at least six months or perhaps a whole year.” In R & S, p. 48, ST writes: “I was well paid, but I was determined not to save so much as a penny and even to pay a lot out of my own pocket so as not to feel too indebted to the government, and to uphold my honor as a guest of the Smithsonian.”
In an article about local celebrities: Sunday “Potomac” supplement, Washington Post, January 8, 1967, p. 7. The article featured ST’s glasses with the caption “Artist Saul Steinberg moving to Washington as the Smithsonian’s Artist in Residence.”
As soon as word got out: From the folders of requests in YCAL, Box 16.
“Smithsonian’s Steinberg”: January, 1967, as quoted in Edwards, “Doodle Dandy,” Smithsonian, p. 41.
“an easy interview”: Karl E. Meyer, interview, May 27, 2010, in connection with “Steinberg Looks at Washington,” Washington Post, March 15, 1970. Meyer interviewed ST in New York, where he was the paper’s correspondent.
“a subject of interest”: Mary Krug, managing editor of the Smithsonian Torch, to ST, March 6, 1967, YCAL, Box 16; the article was entitled “Enigmatic Steinberg Discusses Residency,” April 1967, p. 3.
“one of the elite of the elite”: ST, diary, YCAL, Box 78; HS, interview, October 11, 2007.
“Norwegian Palace”: For a complete account of ST’s time in Washington, see R & S, pp. 45–50. In WMAA, p. 245, ST calls the animals “gorillas.”
The library had an excellent collection: ST to AB, March 30, 1967, SSF.
The high living took a toll: ST consulted Dr. Milton Gusack on April 17 and 18, 1967, for a complete “history and physical examination,” which included a sigmoidoscopy and a glucose tolerance test. On May 4, Dr. Gusack prescribed a diet that followed an exchange pattern similar to Weight Watchers’. See YCAL, Box 16.
He met so many people: The notebook is in YCAL, Box 16.
“bed w[ith] bells”: ST, datebook, March 28, 1967, YCAL, Box 3.
“the famous daughters”: “Mr. and Mrs.” Saul Steinberg were invited by President and Mrs. Johnson to a White House reception on June 7, 1966; YCAL, Box 69. ST did not attend.
“the most admired diploma”: Letter to ST, YCAL, Box 16.
He did not meet any of the Supreme Court justices: ST, datebook, April 18, 1967, YCAL, Box 3; notebook of names, YCAL, Box 16.
The one document that truly spurred his imagination: R & S, p. 49.
he left only thirty-six: The drawings were made into the exhibition catalogue Steinberg at the Smithsonian—The Metamorphosis of an Emblem (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1973), preface by John Hollander.
He included the logo: The dog on a cliff and the India ink bottle are reproduced in Edwards, “Doodle Dandy,” pp. 41–42; the jug on a table is in WMAA, p. 245.
thirty-foot-long scroll: R & S, p. 49. Approximately 14 feet have survived, catalogued as SSF 7011. SSF also holds SSF 6186, a unique screen print that appears to be some kind of proof, possibly for a fabric design. In an e-mail, May 26, 2010, Sheila Schwartz wrote that to the best of her knowledge, the scroll was never exhibited. In WMAA, ST said that the scroll was “thirty or 40 feet long, a nice way of keeping a diary, ruined naturally by the boredom of a self-imposed commission.”
His output was steady: R & S, p. 47, where ST insists he never wore formal dress again.
He had to put the finishing touches: “Steinberg: The Americans: Aquarelles, Dessins et Collages, 1955–67,” Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels; Museum Boymans-van Beunigen, Rotterdam; Hamburger Kunsthalle.
There was the usual flood of requests: “Steinberg: Dibujos y Acuarelas,” Museo de Bellas Artes de Caracas, 1968; “Saul Steinberg: Watercolors and Drawings,” J. L. Hudson Gallery, Detroit; solo exhibitions at Parsons and Janis galleries, all in 1969.
“remote fishing, lumber, and farm communities”: Glynn Ross, Seattle Opera Association, to ST, November 21, 1966, YCAL, Box 16. Steinberg made the drawings and directed the painting of the screens but did not work on them himself. When the production ended, in March 1967, the screens were discarded. ST liked the project and wanted to do another, so he proposed Mozart’s The Magic Flute for the following season. Glynn Ross wrote again, February 28, 1967, YCAL, Box 16, to say that it would not be staged.
“nothing is ever created”: Krug, “Enigmatic Steinberg Discusses Residency.” See also S:I, pp. 166–67.
Saul arranged for money to be deposited: YCAL, Box 16.
He planned not to return to New York: Letter of protest written by Breiner and Bodan, accountants; directive for ST and HS to appear at District Conference, plus copy of their protest letters; YCAL, Box 16. They won the protest, but the IRS continued to audit ST regularly over the next decade.
“Maybe I should take the hint”: SS to ST, n.d., YCAL, Box 16.
Unfortunately, when he was there: SS, diary, YCAL, Boxes 109, 111, and 113.
“Why do you behave like a hysterical old woman?”: SS to ST, May 9, 1970 [most likely written for herself and not sent], YCAL, Box 112.
“outrage”: Joel Smith uses this word in S:I, p. 170.
He agreed with his old friend: Ad Reinhardt, postcard to ST, n.d., YCAL, Box 20. The full text is quoted in S:I, p. 245, n. 124.
Among the first to enlist Steinberg: The collage was exhibited during the “Week of Angry Arts,” January 29–February 4, 1967, YCAL, Box 16.
From then on, Steinberg gave money: A sampling of the exhibitions includes “Protest and Hope: An Exhibition of Contemporary Art,” New School Art Center, New York; “Art for Peace,” staged by various art galleries in New York and other cities; “Referendum 70,” a benefit for antiwar congressional candidates. Scattered throughout the YCAL boxes are flyers, letters, posters, and other materials from various artist groups protesting the war.
Instead of drawing the seals and stamps: ST gave his drawings to William Cypel, of the Union Stamp Works and Printing Company, which was for many years on Broadway but then moved to East 12th Street. Some of the invoices are in YCAL, Box 8. Some of the stamps themselves are in YCAL, Boxes 19 and 20, and they fill YCAL, Boxes 52, 53, and 55.
“to render space, nature, technology”: Glueck, “The Artist Speaks,” p. 112.
This posed a problem: Joel Smith discusses this in Steinberg at The New Yorker, p. 41.
“the cliché is the expression”: “Saul Steinberg Interview,” YCAL, Box 67. This unidentified document is misidentified in S:I, p. 245, n. 126, as “June 1, 1968 interview.” The correct date is assumed to be 1986, but the interviewer remains unknown.
“greater social and political”: Richard Cohen, “Shawn’s Letter from 43rd Street: ‘We Are Not as Aloof as We Once Were,’ ” Women’s Wear Daily, July 1, 1968. See also Yagoda, “A Time of Tumult: 1962–71,” About Town, pp. 313–64.
Many readers thought so: Yagoda, About Town, chapter 6, discusses the debate.
“He believed that most of his audience”: “Saul Steinberg Interview,” YCAL, Box 67.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE: LIVING IN THE PAST
“I work and see few people”: ST to AB, February 22, 1968, SSF.
She told him to invite Aldo: ST’s datebook for 1968 is full of doodles on newspaper want ads and includes meetings with the realtor Alice Mason; YCAL, Box 3.
When he heard that the eleventh (and top) floor: The lease ran from April 19, 1968, to August 31, 1975. His application to use the premises for a residence in conjunction with an artist’s studio
was approved on November 4, 1968; YCAL, Box 22. Also, ST to AB, December 8, 1968, SSF.
“Isn’t it sumptuous?”: Eli Waldron, 1973 essay, YCAL, Box 32.
He got as far as making a list: His work was exhibited in 1968 at the Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas; Hamburger Kunsthalle, Germany; Louisiana Museum, Humleback, Denmark; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; and Irving Galleries, Milwaukee, and was also part of a traveling exhibition that featured the Neuberger Collection, “An American Collection: Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture,” which began at the Rhode Island School of Design and ended at the Smithsonian Institution.
“the little house”: In a datebook diary, YCAL, Box 108, SS wrote that they moved the little house on May 27, 1968.
“We’re going through a nice period”: ST to AB, December 8, 1968, SSF.
“Romanian winter”: ST to AB, March 11, 1969, SSF.
“I function poorly these days”: ST to AB, September 16, 1969, SSF.
They met for the first time: The first meeting took place on September 12, 1965, according to ST’s 1965 datebook, YCAL, Box 3. Information pertaining to van Dalen is from an interview with him, October 5, 2007.
Steinberg asked van Dalen to walk: “Steinberg would move through subject matter. Something would come up that fascinated him and he would work it through, follow it through. I just started at the east end [of Canal Street] and walked west and photographed everything I saw. I always wondered if he had a woman who lived down there because he was so fascinated with it”; Anton van Dalen, interview, October 5, 2007.
“The true artist”: Mimi Gross, interview, March 9, 2010.
She kept up with the literature: HS, interview, October 7, 2007.
The dunning letters: These and copies of many other overdue bills are in YCAL, Box 8.
Money became a concern again: ST, Week At A Glance, 1969, YCAL, Box 3.
He invested a good part of everything: As of 1970, $20,978.35; see TNY annual report of participation trust from Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, YCAL, Box 8.
“July 24: S. hits me”: Information that follows is from SS, diary, 1969, YCAL, Box 108.
“such an extreme and extravagant change”: SS to ST, December 6, 1969, YCAL, Box 112.
“hate and disgust”: SS to ST, January 1, 1970, YCAL, Box 112.
Steinberg had wanted to return to Africa: Information in this paragraph is from ST to AB, March 28, 1970.
“crocodile man”: From what appears to be the earliest transcript of the conversations with Grace Glueck that became the article “The Artist Speaks,” Arts in America, November–December 1970, pp. 110–17.
He was speaking of Alistair Graham: Alistair Graham, Eyelids of Morning: The Mingled Destinies of Crocodiles and Men (San Francisco: Chronicle, 1973–76; reissued 1990). Graham’s correspondence with Steinberg is in YCAL, Box 8.
Graham urged Steinberg to go: Steinberg never visited Lake Rudolph. He sent a thank-you letter to Graham, who replied that ST’s description of Murchison Falls “confirms my suspicion that your taste in Africa is as good as it is in wit”; Alistair Graham to ST, April 25 [1970], YCAL, Box 8.
On his first day in Nairobi: Bellow claimed they were both wearing American baseball hats, but this detail, like many others he allegedly recalled, is in dispute. See also “Saul Steinberg,” The Republic of Letters, no. 7, November 1999; Saul Steinberg, “Saul Bellow in Uganda,” Saul Bellow Journal 4, no. 2 (1985): 24–25.
In an article Bellow wrote: Bellow, “Saul Steinberg,” p. 29.
it is highly unlikely: However, ST did tell Grace Glueck that he and Angelini “had a ball going around on donkeys and mules in cowboy hats, smoking hashish and seeing these—well, more than the churches.”
Steinberg observed how the biologist: Information that follows is from Glueck, unedited transcripts of interviews, copies at SSF.
He had accepted an extremely lucrative commission: Harry Abrams prepared a portfolio of six lithographs with collage that guaranteed ST income in the range of $32,000 (if sold by dealers) to $40,000 (if sold directly by the publisher); YCAL, Box 8.
“enter into investigative discussions”: These are among the many requests in YCAL, Box 8. ST did eventually send the paintings, which were exhibited in the fall at the Carnegie International Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, Pittsburgh.
Van Dalen also had to take care of: Palm Springs Desert Museum donation, September 24, 1970; $100 to East Hampton Guild Hall, August 4, 1970; Guild Hall poster earned $500. All in YCAL, Box 8.
Steinberg was against the war: Lica Roman to ST, n.d., YCAL, Box 8.
He did, however, contribute: Manifesto, April 1970; Dolci invitation, n.d. Both in YCAL, Box 8.
“closed up … into my shell”: ST to AB, November 8, 1970.
Despite his silence, she sent: The message read, “I wish I were there with you”; SS to ST, n.d., YCAL, Box 8.
“less lonely here alone”: SS to ST, May 9, 1970, YCAL, Box 112.
Gross and Grooms were so concerned: Mimi Gross, interview, March 9, 2010.
“It has been coming for a long time”: SS to ST, n.d. but internal evidence suggests fall 1970, YCAL, Box 8.
“pretend the problem does not exist”: ST to AB, November 8, 1970.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: FURNITURE AS BIOGRAPHY
“I go to work as though out of remorse”: ST to AB, April 12, 1971, SSF.
“Here I’ve spent five days”: ST to AB, February 1, 1971, SSF.
He had checked himself into: Bills in YCAL, Box 6, show that his stay in the clinic, Keltenstrasse 48, Zürich, cost approximately $1,000. Before he entered the clinic he stayed at the Hotel Baur au Lac and afterward in the Dolder Grand Hotel. In 1974 he went to the Buchinger-Klinik am Bodensee, on Lake Constance, Switzerland, where he paid 2,000 DM to “take the cure” through fasting and to have medical tests done, primarily on his heart. YCAL, Box 40.
he continued to smoke: In a medical history he gave at Sloan-Kettering Hospital for a 1995 biopsy, he said he smoked one to two packs daily for thirty years but smoked his last cigarette in 1972.
It was one of his two solo exhibitions: Chicago: “Annual Works on Paper;” Corcoran Gallery of Art: “Seven Enormously Popular American Artists”; “Le Dessin d’humour,” Bibliothèque Nationale.
He was a judge: Emily Genauer praised the show for not being “one more opportunistic theme show in this time of Women’s Lib” and praised Steinberg and several others for “quality pieces that are, in several instances, surprisingly offbeat”; Emily Genauer, review of “She,” New York Post, January 16, 1971.
“a couple million scientologists”: Tom Solari to ST, August 4, 1971, YCAL, Box 101. He refers to L. Ron Hubbard’s The Fundamentals of Thought.
Storm clouds explode: Anton van Dalen recalled that Warhol and Steinberg were “intrigued by each other” but he and ST were invited to visit the Factory only once, during the daylight hours, when no one was there to party. Van Dalen called Warhol “an incredibly polite guy and I think he was a fan of Steinberg’s”; Anton van Dalen, interview, October 5, 1007.
“left his study for the streets”: Smith, Steinberg at The New Yorker, p. 41; Anton van Dalen, interview, October 5, 2007.
Some of Steinberg’s ideas: His collection is in YCAL, Boxes 91 and 92.
“evidently lost all sight”: HS to ST, n.d., YCAL, microfilm letters.
“on probation”: SS, calendar for 1971, in which she lists “Mistakes of summer ’71,” YCAL, Box 108; ST to AB, April 12, 1971, SSF.
They returned home despondent: SS, diary, April 13, 1971, YCAL, Box 108.
He relished being in the distinguished company: These names are found on the small scraps of writing in HS’s hand throughout the YCAL boxes, often with her comments about the person’s importance, beauty, or originality.
Steinberg was inordinately proud: ST to AB, November 11, 1971, SSF.
“a writer’s work is a lot more difficult”: ST to Aimé Maeght, October 6, 1971, copy in SSF.
The euphoria dissipated ab
ruptly: ST to AB, January 24, 1973, SSF.
He had flown to Zurich: ST to Aimé Maeght, October 6, 1971, copy in SSF.
The last decision was the most crucial: ST to Sidney Janis, May 1, 1971, YCAL, Box 101. On January 4, 1972, ST thanked Maeght for sending him $50,000 as part of his earnings from prior exhibitions; ST to Aimé Maeght, copy in SSF.
“sensational news”: ST to AB, March 17, 1972, SSF.
“metemphyschosis”: ST to AB, March 17, 1972, SSF; Joyce has Leopold Bloom meditate upon metempsychosis, loosely translated as “the transmigration of the soul,” in Ulysses, episode 8, “Lestrygonians.”
“Saul with warm blue scarf”: ST to SS, Überlingen, January 24, 1972, YCAL, Box 108.
And because Sigrid felt the need: Information that follows is from a list of their travels in a mini-planner kept by ST, YCAL, Box 102; and a MoMA pictorial diary 1971–72, YCAL, Box 3.
One of her best paintings: The painting, done in 1979, was 6 ft. x 6 ft., described by Rose Slivka as “pencil and thin oil of pink tans like skin tones, with greens here and there to indicate water and rivers on a large gray ground.” It hung in ST’s studio in Springs for many years and was the focal point of several exhibitions of SS’s work, particularly the show at Ashawagh Hall in October 1986. See Rose C. S. Slivka, “From the Studio (Sigrid Spaeth),” East Hampton Star, October 9, 1986.
Africa became the only place: SS, diary, YCAL, Box 111.
“of these absurd trips”: ST to AB, March 17, 1972, SSF.
To Hedda, he said merely: HS, interview, October 24, 2007.
“like the previous collections”: ST to AB, June 1, 1972, SSF.
To Aimé Maeght, he said everything was just fine: ST to Aimé Maeght, April 7, 1972, copy in SSF.
It had always been a very special holiday: Throughout her diary writings in YCAL, Boxes 100, 101, 108, and 109, SS always notes if ST sent roses to commemorate the holiday or if he ignored it—a sign that they were estranged.
“struggle against tobacco”: ST to AB, December 9, 1972, SSF.
“beautiful and simple”: ST to AB, September 25, 1972, SSF.
he now had a second studio assistant: Gordon Pulis worked for ST for twenty-two years. In an interview, September 22, 2007, Pulis said, “We didn’t hit it off the first time we met, at a dinner with [William] Gaddis and Muriel [Oxenberg Murphy] and Sigrid. Five years later, I told him about that first dinner. He said nothing that I can remember when I told him we had met before; I think he just stared at me.” Before ST hired Pulis, he hired a woman whose name is not known to help with ink and color drawings. Pulis said, “She was totally incompetent, which is how he came to get my name the second time when he hired me.”
