Epilogue: the uncertainty of his place

His choice of media, his use of humor: Unsigned obituary, “Saul Steinberg,” East Hampton Star, May 20, 1999, copy in YCAL, Box 88, “Obituaries” Folder.

Steinberg made his last will and testament: The last will and testament of Saul Steinberg, April 16, 1999, submitted by Attorney Lynn Saidenberg of the firm of John Silberman Associates PC, acting on behalf of Prudence Crowther and John Silberman as executors of the estate of Saul Steinberg, admitted to probate by the Surrogate’s Court of New York County by decree dated June 23, 1999; copy in SSF. It replaced an earlier will dated November 6, 1996, a copy of which is in YCAL, Box 70.

He was the only person privy: PC, e-mail, December 15, 2010.

“a non-profit organization”: The Saul Steinberg Foundation mission statement, http://www/saulsteinbergfoundation.org/. John Silberman and John Hollander left the board in 2008 and 2010, respectively, and were replaced by Megan Fox Kelley and Jeffrey Hoffeld. Sheila Schwartz was the original executive director and was serving in that capacity in 2012.

The university’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library: ST specified that besides the drawings 15 x 17 in. or smaller, his archives consisted of all his letters, bills, photographs, rubber stamps, notebooks, albums, manuscripts (whether by him or by others), plus all papers other than works of art, black-and-white cartoons created for TNY, and portraits or photographs of him by other persons. Yale received the papers, but all copyrights were retained by SSF. The archives were to be available only to scholars and researchers until 2009, after which the general public was permitted access to them. The university was not allowed to sell any drawings within the archives after 2009.

Besides the generous financial bequests: In the final 1999 will, ST made several changes: he gave $50,000 each to Aldo Buzzi, Josephine Buttles, Anton van Dalen, IF, Gordon Pulis, Norman and Cella Manea, Lawrence Danson, Karen van Lengen, Maryam Javaheri Eng, and Mary Frank. Prudence Crowther received $100,000. Provision was made for Ada Ongari to receive $12,000 per annum for life if she survived him, but as she predeceased him, that money remained with his estate.

He left the library: A note in Sheila Schwartz’s handwriting, appended to SSF’s copy of the article “The Artist as Collector,” by Andre Emmerich, Art in America no. 2 (Summer 1958), notes on p. 26 that ST’s collection of “a large group of turn-of-the-century doll-like bisque figurines,” a “black magic figure of wrought iron from Brazil, and “a small clay jar representing the ancient Mexican Rain-God Tlaloc,” are now [i.e., after his death] in possession of Anton van Dalen.

the memorial service on November 1, 1999: The ceremony was held in the Charles Engelhard Court in the American Wing at 11:00 a.m. I am grateful to Sol and Judith Steinberg Bassow for copies of the invitation and program. In ST to AB, April 11, 1988, ST wrote of his pleasure in having the postcards enlarged: “(to a meter across)…and when you look at them you enter into that world, shortly before our birth—which is a more attractive and comprehensible era.”

Hedda Sterne chose not to attend: In an interview, October 11, 2007, HS said she chose not to attend “for a variety of reasons.” After saying that she did not want to be a distraction or to draw attention to herself, she paused a long time before saying it would have been too emotionally difficult and she feared she would break down in public.

Dr. Torsten Wiesel introduced the six speakers: Copies in SSF. A handwritten note on the IF transcript indicates that transcriptions were made by PC.

“Each of us wished”: Saul Bellow, untitled remarks, reprinted as “Saul Steinberg,” Republic of Letters, no. 7, November 7, 1999; four untitled pages of Bellow’s remarks are in the James Atlas papers, University of Chicago Library, Special Collections Research Center, Box 4, folder titled “Marbles,” with portions of what became the article in The Republic of Letters. I am grateful to James Atlas for permission to read them, and to Julia Gardner, Reference and instruction librarian, for her prompt attention to my request.

“the most biting satire”: Leo Steinberg, “Remembering Saul,” November 1, 1999.

“We carry a curse”: Norman Manea, “Memorial: Saul Steinberg.”

“visionary intellectual satirist”: John Hollander, untitled remarks, later incorporated into “Saul Steinberg, 1914–1999,” read at the American Academy of Arts dinner meeting, November 10, 1999, published as “Memorial Tribute to Saul Steinberg,” Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Letters no. 50, 2nd series (2000): 101–6.

Mary Frank came next: Mary Frank, interview, January 25, 2009; quotations taken from her untitled remarks transcribed from a tape by PC, SSF.

“a marvel in nature”: IF, “Eulogy,” reprinted as “Eulogy for Saul Steinberg,” McSweeney’s no. 6 (2001): 29–32. HS’s remark about “reality” is also on Tape 4, September 26, 2005, “Conversations with Claire Nivola,” and was repeated throughout HS’s interviews with DB.

“the greatest artist to be associated”: Adam Gopnik, untitled essay to accompany “Sketchbook by Saul Steinberg,” cover and pp. 54–57, TNY, May 24, 1999.

The Italian newspaper: La Repubblica, May 14, 1999, copy in YCAL, Box 88, “Obituaries” folder. One of the articles, “Quando era inamorato di Gadda,” was about Steinberg’s particular enjoyment of Gadda’s fictions because he wrote in the Milanese dialect, which for ST was “the language of love.” In ST to AB, April 11, 1988, ST described the pleasure of reading Gadda’s Milanese dialect: “I understand it better than I would have expected, as long as I read it out loud.”

In France, Libération also: “Culture: ‘Steinberg coupe sa ligne de vie’; ‘le dessinateur et mort mercredi a New York’; ‘il faudrait inventer un cenotaphe special pour Saul Steinberg,’ ” Libération, May 16 and 17, 1999; unsigned obituary, “Saul Steinberg,” Le Monde, May 18, 1999. Copies of both in YCAL, Box 88, “Obituaries” folder.

Hilton Kramer praised Steinberg: Hilton Kramer, “Farewell, Saul Steinberg, a Mordant Comic Artist,” New York Observer, May 23, 1999. Sheila Schwartz provided the example of H. W. Janson’s History of Art (New York: Abrams, 1991), where ST is not in the index until the sixth edition and even then is discussed only briefly in an introductory section, “Looking at Art,” where a 1960 TNY drawing is used along with three other cartoons by pure cartoonists to make a general point about the creative process; his work is not considered in the actual history of art text that begins in the next chapter. See S:I, p. 20 and n. 10, for further examples.

“epic doodler”: Sarah Boxer, “Saul Steinberg, Epic Doodler, Dies at 84,” New York Times, May 13, 1999, pp. 1, B10, copy in YCAL, Box 88, “Obituaries” folder.

“in-between status”: Michael Kimmelman, “Art in Review: Saul Steinberg,” New York Times, October 22, 1999; in conjunction with exhibitions at Pace Wildenstein Gallery and Adam Baumgold Fine Art Gallery.

“He was neither cartoonist nor painter”: Franklin Foer (with Angie Cannon), “A Great View of the World: Saying Goodbye to Saul Steinberg,” U.S. News & World Report, May 24, 1999, p. 65; copy provided by Judith Steinberg Bassow.

“the man who did that poster”: Among the many obituaries that discuss “that poster” are Robert Hughes, “Fine, Indecipherable Flourishes,” Time, May 24, 1999; Elaine Woo, “Saul Steinberg: Artist Best Known for Covers and Cartoons in The New Yorker,” Los Angeles Times, May 14, 1999; “Saul Steinberg,” The Art Newspaper: In Memoriam, June 1999, copy in SSF archives; Martin Plimmer, “Obituary: Saul Steinberg,” Independent (London), May 18, 1999; Foer with Cannon, “A Great View of the World.”

“the most iconic image”: Peter Plagens, “Have Pen, Will Amuse,” Newsweek, May 24, 1999, copy in YCAL, Box 88, “Obituaries” folder.

“Steinberg’s most famous composition”: Hughes, “Saul Steinberg,” in Nothing If Not Critical, p. 259; Jean Lemaire, “An Appreciation,” Loria Collection, p. 10.

The question proliferated: The exhibition itinerary listed in the book is as follows: Morgan Library and Museum, New York, November 30, 2006–March 4, 2007; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., April 6–June 24, 2007; Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio, July 30–September 20, 2007; Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, November 2, 2007–February 24, 2008. The publication (cited throughout this book) is Joel Smith, Saul Steinberg: Illuminations (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007).

“fundamental questions”: Front flap copy, S:I. Smith wrote the jacket copy, which he discusses more fully in the introduction, p. 20.

“Seven years after his death”: Charles Simic, “Steinberg’s Bazaar,” S:I, p. 17.

“I don’t quite belong”: J. R. Cochran, “He Seldom Lays Eggs,” New Haven Register, July 1973.

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