Chapter twenty-six: I lived with her for so long

“Hedda and I have become friends”: ST to AB, March 16, 1961, SSF.

“It now seems to me”: ST to AB, October 9, 1961, SSF.

The house had always been in Hedda’s name: ST to HS, July 19, 1961, AAA: “As I paid the insurance for it in the past and now the company says that it should be transferred to me, I’ll pay you $400 for it. A bargain. The car must be worth $25. I’ll try to fix it properly and you’ll use it any time. It’s yours anyway. If you agree, please sign … sign Hedda Steinberg only.”

“got all he wanted”: HS, interviews, March 29 and May 8, 2007. In the latter interview, HS alluded to the “deep hurt” she felt when ST left her for SS. She said, “People can be wounded but will do what they need to do in order to keep a situation on an even keel.” When we spoke of how many women assumed the role of stabilizer in disintegrating relationships, she became vehement and insisted that “this is the necessary thing to do, and I was right to do it.”

As for Steinberg himself: Many people related this anecdote in interviews and conversations, among them Hedda Sterne, Dore Ashton, Cornelia Foss, Mimi Gross, Priscilla Morgan, and Daniela Roman. They and others, Richard Fedem and Ruth Nivola among them, also related how angry it made SS, because she did want marriage and children in their early years together.

“Please take good care”: ST to HS, May 16, 1961, AAA, in which he mentions “Del Corso, Lattuada, and Aldo.”

And yet, even as he wished her: ST to HS, July 19, 1961, AAA.

“that having pleasure”: ST to HS, May 16, 1961, AAA.

“It’s now a mark of distinction”: ST to HS, June 29, 1961, AAA.

He worked in Springs: Unless otherwise noted, information that follows is from two 1961 datebooks, YCAL, Box 3.

He had become close to Inge Morath: Morath and Miller married on February 17, 1962. ST became a frequent visitor to their home in Roxbury, Connecticut. They were so close that ST was the only guest invited to stay in the Miller home during the festivities celebrating Arthur Miller’s eightieth birthday; Inge Morath, note to ST, n.d., YCAL, Box 35.

Eventually he let her capture him: SS prepared a mock curriculum vitae sometime in late 1961 or early 1962, YCAL, Box 17, with topic headings such as “studied,” “worked,” “lives,” “owns.” Under “got rid of,” she wrote first of his mustache, then “an attitude to be photographed preferably with paper masks.” Le Masque was first published in conjunction with ST’s 1965 exhibition at Galerie Maeght, with texts by Michel Butor and Harold Rosenberg, photos by Inge Morath (Paris: Maeght Editeur, 1966). Unrelated drawings to this show appeared in a TNY portfolio on May 5, 1962. See also S:I, pp. 149–50, and Catalogue, n. 93. The book Saul Steinberg: Masquerade was published by Viking Studio Books (New York: Penguin, 2002).

He accepted the dinner invitation: ST became litigious when the Vancouver, British Columbia, Festival bought the rights to the production and used his drawings. On October 4, 1961, Paul Feigay wrote to apologize for assuming that, having bought the entire production, they had also bought the rights to use ST’s drawings. It was a genuine mistake and all ST’s drawings were removed from use. Berghof wrote to ST from Rome, October 17, 1961, to apologize for “the flap and the mix-up” over his name, which he did not want “to color” their friendship. YCAL, Box 14.

Morgan was the American associate director: Morgan was responsible for ST’s contributions during the next several years. The request to borrow the drawing came officially from MoMA in a letter of May 8, 1961, YCAL, Box 13.

“wish to present something abstract”: Frank Metz to ST, April 21, 1961, YCAL, Box 13.

“the usual Pont Royal”: ST to HS, “Monday 15 May” [1961], AAA. In YCAL, Box 3, ST’s 1961 datebook shows that he was in Rome on June 1, in Venice on June 4, and in Milan on June 6, returning to Paris on June 9.

“It’s not fair”: ST to HS, August 20, 1961, AAA. The artist is identified only as “Ruth” in correspondence from this period.

“I don’t know what the cause”: Rosa Steinberg to ST, April 28, 1961.

This became her genuine attitude: Daniela Roman, interviews and conversations, 2007, Amagansett and Paris.

“all very glamorous”: SS, “My Life in Postcards,” YCAL, Box 110.

He also learned to swim: See S:I, pp. 175–76.

He told Aldo that it was: ST to AB, Amagansett, July 28, 1961, SSF.

Their social life had been mostly with old friends: Connie Breuer to ST, October 15, 1961, YCAL, Box 14. The Breuers wanted ST to meet Willy Staehelin, a Zurich lawyer for whom Marcel had built a house and for whom ST would later design a very personal Christmas card.

he only went to the theater: In an interview he gave to the Appleton, Wisconsin, Post-Crescent when he received an honorary degree in June 1962, he said, “The theater is mediocre. People here go to the theater to be seen—not to see anything”; YCAL, Box 14.

When Sasha Schneider praised: SS to ST, in care of Ernesto Rogers in Milan, December 8, 1961.

“the appendage in this relationship”: Mimi Gross, interview, March 9, 2010; Cornelia Foss, interview, March 20, 2010.

“I sit here all evening”: SS to ST, on the back of an envelope telling him his subscription to Dissent has expired, n.d., YCAL, Box 13, Folder “Correspondence 1960–61.” The only punctuation SS used was dashes, which I have mostly replicated, adding the occasional period where I thought it appropriate.

“so wrapped up in his ‘art’ ”: SS wrote this on September 8, 1971, reflecting back on her first years with ST; YCAL, Box 108.

As always, travel presented a way: The mural was destroyed in 1997 when the house was torn down and a commercial building erected.

While he was making preparations: Information that follows is from Lica Roman to ST, September 7, 11, and 24, and October 1 and 10, 1961, Romanian letters, YCAL, Box 14, Folders 2 and 3.

It was a difficult time: Iancu Marcovici to ST, November 13, 1961, Romanian letters, YCAL, Box 14, Folder 2.

“great changes and renewal”: Lica Roman to ST, April 14, 1962, Romanian letters, YCAL, Box 14, Folder 2.

After he finished the Via Bigli mural: SS to ST, December 8, 1961, YCAL, Box 14.

He started to make lists: ST, “List of Weekly Engagements, December 26, 1961,” YCAL, Box 14, “Correspondence 1961–63.”

He was worried when she told him: SS to ST, November 29, 1961, YCAL, Box 14.

the first of the long series of psychoanalysts: She was seeing June M. Barrack, M.S.S., several times weekly, and the bills were addressed to him. The rusting hulk of the Chevrolet is still behind his studio in Springs.

In later years Max’s Kansas City: SS often invited Mimi Gross to join her and was undeterred when MG refused and asked her not to go either.

Unfortunately, the trip was not all sunlight: Repeated letters from Sports Illustrated, which ST did not answer, are in YCAL, Box 14.

Lincoln Center wanted posters: These are among the many in the burgeoning files in YCAL, Boxes 14 and 15.

In Italy, Rizzoli wanted to publish: Rizzoli Editore to ST, December 13, 1962; Feltrinelli Editore to ST, September 26, 1962, both in YCAL, Box 14.

There were other foreign requests: Steinberg’s Paperback (Munich: Rowohlt, 1964).

he still managed to produce: The covers were April 2 and September 17, 1960; January 28, June 10, and September 9, 1961; May 19 and October 6, 1962.

He had designed several book jackets: They included endpapers for May Natalie Tabak (Rosenberg), But Not for Love (New York: Horizon, 1960); dust jacket for Erich Kuby, The Sitzkrieg of Private Stefan (New York: Farrar, Straus, Cudahy, 1962); dust jacket and title page for Martin Meyerson et al., Housing, People, and Cities (New York: McGraw Hill, 1962). ST’s covers included those for Art in America 49, no. 2 (1961); Opera News 25 (April 29, 1961); JAIP 27 (August, 1961). Jesse Reichek was also a professor of design at the College of Environmental Design, U.C. Berkeley. His letter to ST is September 11, 1961, YCAL, Box 14.

“the man involved in his own history”: ST’s letter to Katherine Kuh is reprinted in S:I, Appendix, p. 240; original is in KK Papers, YCAL, Box 2, Folder 28.

He was grateful for invitations from women: Elaine de Kooning asked him to contribute $100 for an ad in the New York Times to support an unnamed group taking “action for peace.” All these invitations are YCAL, Box 14.

“bellicose postcards”: Harold Rosenberg, homage to Ad Reinhardt, HR/Getty, Box 32, Folder 32/6.

“740 Hindu priests in New Delhi”: Ad Reinhardt, undated postcard referring to February 4, 1962, YCAL, Box 14.

Aldo Buzzi was passing through: AB was depressed over financial difficulties, and ST arranged to give him money through Billy Wilder, who pretended to hire AB for a film consultation, after which he paid him with ST’s money. Correspondence concerning Wilder’s acting as intermediary in passing funds for the next several years is in YCAL, Box 15, Folder “Correspondence 1965.”

He did not take her to the dinner party: ST, desk diary, 1962, YCAL, Box 3.

“on a stand-by basis”: SS, diary, containing a long letter to “Dear Saul” written on January 5, 1971, when she was recapitulating their previous decade together and apart. YCAL, Box 108.

He told her she could start: ST, datebook, “Gigi Schule,” February 12, 1962, YCAL, Box 3.

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