Saul Steinberg liked to call himself “a writer who draws,” but during the 20th century few draftsmen could approach his inventiveness. In his drawings, Steinberg‘s lines seem to reinvent themselves as they progress, zigging when you expect them to zag, or disappearing abruptly just as they appear to be gathering steam. In the Art Institute’s revelatory new show “Along the Lines: Selected Drawings by Saul Steinberg,” curator Mark Pascale has gathered 54 examples of Steinberg’s work spanning from the 1940s to the ’80s (given to the museum by the Saul Steinberg Foundation in 2013), and has presented an artist who’s always searching for the purest distillation of thought through the act of mark making.
In his catalog essay, Pascale posits that Steinberg’s greatest contribution was his demonstration that the drawn line is equivalent to thought. Indeed, Steinberg is rarely concerned with outward physical appearance and is much more interested in what and how we perceive what we see. His portraits and landscapes are of interior worlds rather than external ones. But his interest in the human psyche isn’t dry or academic—much of the humor and mystery in his work occurs in the way he relates humanity’s lack of understanding. When Steinberg draws thought balloons, for instance, they are usually filled with non sequiturs or gibberish.
“Along the Lines: Selected Drawings by Saul Steinberg
A new exhibit at the Art Institute exemplifies the genius of the 20th-century artist.
Through 10/29: Sun–Wed and Fri-Sat 10:30 AM–5 PM, Thu 10:30 AM–8 PM Art Institute of Chicago 111 S. Michigan 312-443-3600artinstituteofchicago.org $25, $19 students, seniors ($5 discount for Chicago residents), free kids under 14; free for Illinois residents Thursdays 5-8 PM.
