Customer Reviews

Saul Steinberg: Illuminations

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First, I must confess that I am predisposed to enjoying this book. I love everything about the man and his work. Over the past several years I've acquired fourteen volumes of Steinberg's art as well as other printed pieces. Before the internet this would have been almost impossible and very costly. My earliest recollection of art I had strong feelings about goes back to the late 1940's when I saw a series of drawings by Saul Steinberg in The New Yorker.

That being said, this catalog is one of the finest volumes of his work to date. It is a generously sized book at 10 x 12 inches, hardcover and 288 pages. It is printed on a matte coated paper which means the reproductions are excellent. The book is very well thought out. It begins with two illustrated essays. They are followed by the catalogue of the exhibition. This is followed by notes, chronologies and other information which illuminates Mr. Steinberg's career.

It is a very well designed book. The type choices and page formats make it quite easy to actually read. This is not always the case since the advent of computer composition. The catalogue section gives each work of art a two-page spread. The title, pictorial information and a brief commentary are on the left facing page and a reproduction is on the right facing page. The illustrations are large and accurate to the originals. For some art works there are extra illustrations below the commentary on the left facing page.

If you are intrigued about this artist, Saul Steinberg ILLUMINATIONS, is a must for your library. To round out your collection, consider purchasing STEINBERG AT THE NEW YORKER which was recently published and should still be available. If you are interested in seeing the actual exhibition, you should be able to find information online at the Saul Steinberg Foundation website.

"A writer who draws," that's how Steinberg described himself, and that's what Joel Smith's explores in his great essay on Steinberg's life and art which accompanies the pieces from the ILLUMINATIONS show. If you're looking for Steinberg's New Yorker work, you won't find it here. (Buy the must-have Complete New Yorker on DVD and you'll have everything he ever published there!) But if you're looking for a good place to start on Steinberg, this is the book.

The marvelous Saul Steinberg exhibition at the Morgan Library in NYC is almost too much to take in even if one devotes an entire afternoon. Unlike some art exhibitions, Saul Steinberg's work is full of references and verbal ques that make ones brain fire on all cylinders simlutaneously. That can be exhilarating, but also exhausting. Saul Steinberg, the book, allows one to take in the artists's work in smaller bites: indeed, you can dip into the book at any page and be well fed. Don't miss the exhibition. But then, make sure you get the book.

This book sums up most of the best work of Saul Steinberg, and for those who like his graphics, an absolute "must have"

I confess - up to now, I had written off Saul Steinberg as "that New York poster guy." Then I got this book at the library, and what an eye-opener! This is an artist with an amazingly strong vision and message, often bitingly satirical, with incredible figures and dazzling compositions, working in a surprising range of materials (pencil, ink, watercolor, crayon, and rubber-stamping - often on the same piece).

I particularly delight in his wide-ranging "cartoon" people - playing style against style, turning expectations inside out, displaying a strong commentary on modern America with his demented cowboys, high-fashion women, and multiple little stamped inspectors offering a silent commentary to the various goings-on.

this is the biggest ilustrator of the world,you'l never been disappointing with this book, a great gift for desing artist!

Joel Smith, Saul Steinberg: Illuminations (Yale, 2006)

Among those artists in the stable of The New Yorker, Saul Steinberg may be second only in recognition to Charles Addams. And yet, until 2006, there had never been a major retrospective of Steinberg's work. This book is the companion volume to the exhibition that rectified that oversight, and it is chock-full of drawings and photographs of both Steinberg and his work, along with a ninety-six page biographical essay by Smith. Even if you don't know Steinberg's name, if you saw issues of The New Yorker at any time during the over three decades Steinberg was working for them, you probably know his work. And if you've been a fan all that time, you may still be surprised at how much farther-ranging his work went beyond that. Either way, it's worth checking out. ***