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.

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