Acknowledgments

When I began the research for this book, I contacted as many of Saul Steinberg’s friends as I could find to ask them to tell me about their friendships. Almost every single time I received the same reaction: a radiant smile would cover their faces and the first thing they would say was usually something along the lines of “Dear Saul. What a wonderful man he was, and oh how I miss him!” They were delighted that a biography was underway and they all offered immediate and generous cooperation.

As we talked about Steinberg’s work, I was particularly intrigued by the stories they told of memorable occasions they had shared, and of the spontaneous drawings Steinberg had made as gifts to commemorate them. They generously offered to let me use those drawings and anything else in their collections that I might need to tell their “Saul stories.” How I wish I could have taken advantage of these vignettes of the friendships that made his life so rich and full. Instead, I had to content myself with writing about but not showing them, because I was constrained by the Saul Steinberg Foundation’s decision to limit my use of his art to a total of thirty-five examples. I was able to secure these permissions through the generosity of Lisa de Kooning, who knew and loved Steinberg all her life and who provided a generous grant from the Willem de Kooning Foundation.

Six of the thirty-five examples of Steinberg’s art were not under the Foundation’s direct control. Three of the six came through the generosity of the trustees of the Hedda Sterne Foundation, all of whom were willing to grant me the use of as many images as I needed in order to tell the story of Saul and Hedda. I regret that the restrictions imposed by the Steinberg Foundation meant that I could use only three. I am grateful to Hedda Sterne’s trustees for their hard work on my behalf as they gathered photocopies of her work and allowed me to choose whatever I wanted. I express my deep gratitude to them: Sarah Eckhardt, Michael Hecht, Sanford Hirsch, Veronique Lindenberg, Gordon Marsh, and Karen Van Lengen. I wish especially to thank the late Hedda Sterne herself, whom it was a privilege and an honor to know. The friendship she gave me and the hours I spent with her in happy conversation will be one of the most important and lasting memories of my professional life.

Anton van Dalen, Steinberg’s studio assistant for forty years, was a good friend to this book. He has most generously contributed the remaining three Steinberg drawings, and some of the photos here are from his private collection. He allowed me to roam at will through the books in Steinberg’s personal library that were bequeathed to him, and he shared his memories and his archives.

Claire Nivola’s collection of Steinbergiana is stunning in its originality and provides such a lovely history of the Nivola family’s important friendship with Steinberg that I regret I could only write about it and not show it. I thank her and her husband, Gus Kiley, for their hospitality and support.

I wish I could write a mini-biography about each of the “friends of Saul” who shared their memories with me, but I must content myself with simply listing their names and assuring them of my gratitude. Among the Steinberg Foundation’s trustees I thank Prudence Crowther, Ian Frazier, Jeffrey Hoffeld, and John Hollander for interviews; John Silberman and Donn Zaretsky for smoothing prickly paths. Steinberg’s niece and nephew, Daniella and Stèphane Roman, in Paris, Nice, and East Hampton, were generous with family archives and gracious hospitality; so, too, were his cousins, Sol and Judith Steinberg Bassow, from their home in Colorado.

Among Steinberg’s friends whom I wish to thank are: Ellen Adler, Roger Angell, Anna Aragno, Geraldine Aramanda, Dore Ashton, James Atlas, Marion Barthelme, Adam Baumgold, Ann Birstein, Aldo Buzzi, Gabriella Canfield, Ivan Chermayeff, Christo and Jeanne Claude, Arthur Danto, Richard Fadem, Russell Flinchum, Mary Frank, Nathan Garland, Mimi Gross, Elizabeth Hollander, Del Leu, Sabra Loomis, Lee Lorenz, George P. Lynes II, Norman and Cella Manea, James Marcus, Kevin Miserocchi, Eleanor Monro, Ruth Nivola, Vita Peterson, Mark Podwal, Gordon Pulis, Charles Simic, Benjamin Sonnenberg, Jeanne Steig, Jean Stein, Alexander Stille, Mario Tedeschini Lalli, Wendy Weil, Michelle White, and Drenka Willen.

Saul Steinberg left 177 boxes of archives to Yale University’s Beinecke Library. These include personal and professional correspondence, tax returns and financial documents, address books, daily appointment books and calendars, photos, objects collected in his travels and his postcard, stamp, comic book, and other collections. He saved everything, from takeout menus from his neighborhood restaurants to the baby bib crocheted by his mother. It took me almost six months of daily reading to go through these boxes, and as I did I gave thanks that I live in New Haven. The staff at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Collection was unfailingly kind, and I wish to thank Patricia Willis, Karen Nangle, and all those at the front desk who cheerfully grew muscles hoisting my boxes. Other research institutes that aided my research were the Archives of American Art at The Smithsonian Institution, the Tee & Charles Addams Foundation, the University of Chicago Special Collections, The Getty Research Institute Research Library, and the Menil Collection.

Writers are so lucky to have people in their personal life who do so much to ease the transition from scrawl to manuscript, and here again I’d like to write at length about all those who helped me, but I can only single out some. There are not enough thanks for the distinguished editor and dear friend John R. Ferrone, who gave me daily counsel, support, and friendship. I would have been lost without it. Aileen Ward has been a cherished mentor and one of the most important contributors to every aspect of my life and work. If a book can be said to have a fairy godmother, it is certainly Priscilla Morgan, who smoothed my path in too many crucial instances to mention here. Her indefatigable generosity of spirit was an inspiration. Kenneth and Roberta Nesheim gave me sound professional advice along with a personal friendship of so many years’ standing we have all lost count. My friendship deepened with two good friends from my years in the world of Simone de Beauvoir: I had only to mention that I needed editing help for Mary Lawrence Test to step in and do it, and, in research, Myrna Bell Rochester always found what I needed. I had several unfortunate computer hacking incidents as I wrote, and my friend, neighbor, and computer guru Thomas Henderson bailed me out of every one of them. Allison Stokes expanded my world by taking me into hers; I counted on Sydney Stern, the “other Gem,” for great book talk and interesting explorations along unusual byways.

Other friends contributed in so many ways: Lina Alpert, Neil Baldwin, Elissa Bruschini, Carol Chiodo, Lisa Corva, Nancy Cardozo Cowles, Patricia DeMaio, Jane Denning, Jay Edelman, Diane Jacobs, Laurence Lockridge, Elaine Lewis, Kenneth MacKenzie, Nancy MacKnight, Marion Meade, Jean Nathan, Patricia O’Toole, Joan Schenkar, Kenneth Silverman, Eoin and Maeve Slavin, Stephanie Steiker, Rosemary Sullivan, Beverly and Barry Wellman, and Lawrence Weschler.

At Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, I had the great good fortune to work with Ronit Feldman on editorial matters and Katherine J. Trager on legal issues. Emily Mahon designed the jacket, Pei Loi Koay was the interior designer, and Liz Duvall was the copy editor—all three were brilliant and I thank them. Our production crew included Roméo Enriquez, and for marketing and publicity, respectively, I thank John Pitts and Kristen Gastler.

Most of all, I must thank the inimitable Nan Talese, who makes beautiful books, and with this one—despite sometimes insupportable problems—produced one of her best. Her patience and support sustained me for several years, and it is my privilege to count myself as one of her writers. I say the same about my agent, Kristine Dahl, whose client I am privileged to be, and I thank Kris and her assistant, Laura Neely, who both make things happen in a flash.

Moving to the truly personal, I am fortunate to have such amazing adult children and I thank the talented four: Katney Bair, Vonn Scott Bair, my son-in-law Niko Courtelis, and my “Swedish son” Bjorn Lindahl. My granddaughter, Isabel Courtelis, continues to amaze and delight me, and now she fixes my computer (how lucky can you get?). This book is also for the memory of Lavon H. Bair.

My siblings give professional as well as personal support: my brother Vincent J. Bartolotta Jr., takes care of the legal, and his wife Judy, and my sister Linda Rankin, provide the medical. My cousins keep our large family united: Toni Jo and Archie Allridge, Leah Balliard, and all the Bartolottas: Joan and Bart, Camera, Devin, and our memory of Robin.

Finally, this book is dedicated to the patriarch of our family, my uncle Aldo L. Bartolotta, who makes everyone smile when he tells them he never had a bad day. “No wonder,” says his wife, my Aunt Joan. “He gave them all to me.”

NOTES

Дата добавления: 2015-10-30