Pegeen and Jean Hélion's Copy of All in Line by Saul Steinberg

A signed copy of Saul Steinberg's All in Line (1945) is generally worth a look, especially when there is also an original drawing. Listed online by Black Gull Books of St. Leonard's-on-Sea, a copy is described with the intriguing words "Signed with a drawing on half-title page" and the less welcome "Boards show wear, upper spine ragged." The cover, lacking a dust jacket, is photographed in its protective acetate jacket.

The listing has no photograph, though, of that crucial interior half-title page. The price, around 200 GBP, comes to over $300 with shipping. Ordinarily, in this situation I might write one of my "Sight Unseen" posts: one, that is, where I order the book despite not getting a good look at it and then report on whether it met or didn't meet my expectations. Either way, it's a bit of a gamble and recent market uncertainty has left me less willing to commit real money to a book that might not live up to its description. So instead I asked the bookseller for another photograph and then began the long process of waiting, wondering whether a less risk-averse collector would take the plunge while I was napping at poolside.

Saul Steinberg
AbeBooks listing accessed May 27, 2028

https://www.abebooks.com/signed/Line-Saul-Steinberg-Duell-Sloan-Pearce/32207585801/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=viewbook_high

Saul Steinberg
AbeBooks item description

After two or three days, the requested photograph arrived revealing a 1948 inscription with a drawing of a man raising his hat. It all looks authentic to my eye.

This drawing recalls a similar one Steinberg gave to cartoonist Sam Cobean and his wife Anne, also in a copy of All in Line, which you can see in the archives here. Already Steinberg was traveling in rarefied artistic circles as the book's recipients demonstrate. Pegeen, a painter, was born Pegeen Vail Guggenheim, the daughter of art collector Peggy Guggenheim and writer Laurence Vail. She was married to French modernist artist Jean Hélion from 1946 to 1956. This was the couple's copy of the book. And now it's mine.

Note:  There is always room on this blog for other books personally embellished by Saul Steinberg.

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On the Proliferation of Fake Collectors' Stamps

Comic art and illustration specialist Murray A. Harris of California often annotated the back, or verso, of works in his collection, adding his personal stamp and signature. Here's an example of his markings on the back of a Reamer Keller drawing selected from the blog archives. It is stamped twice indicating two different Harris addresses, signed once, and date stamped, either indicating a date of publication or of acquisition:

https://attemptedbloggery.blogspot.com/2020/06/reamer-keller-no-rest-for-grownups.html

Many collectors must be familiar with Harris because of such documentary practices. It is gratifying to know something about the provenance of a drawing, particularly if it once resided in a well-regarded collection.

A work on paper from the Zipriani Auction House of Lima raises some questions in this area. It was listed this past March as "Saul Steinberg Drawing on Paper (In The Style Of)." In auction speak, that's tantamount to an admission that it is not an original drawing by Saul Steinberg, or that its authorship cannot be proved, but to my eye it is still fairly impressive. The original $1,200 asking price is a bit of a head-scratcher; too low for a true Steinberg original of this quality but too high for a mere copy.

Adding to the puzzle, the drawing has a Harris collection stamp on the verso. It is poorly inked unlike the Keller example above, and there is no corresponding Harris signature or other marking. Could this doubtful Steinberg have resided in Harris's collection? Or is the stamp itself a fake, meant to suggest provenance and thus authenticity to the knowing collector when in fact there is neither? Harris's name was in bold text on the verso of the Keller drawing; here it is clearly a different stamp with the same text.

At any rate, the lot did not find a buyer. The price was soon reduced to an opening bid of $400, and later to $100—not true Steinberg territory.

Saul Steinberg
Zipriani Auction House listing accessed March 7, 2023
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/147198975_saul-steinberg-drawing-on-paper-in-the-style-of?from=alert&utm_source=SavedAlert&utm_campaign=SearchAlert_20200423_A&utm_medium=email&utm_content=item

In the style of Saul Steinberg
Zipriani Auction House listing accessed March 7, 2023

The version of Steinberg's New Yorker drawing from the issue of February 3, 1945 is distinct from that published in his later 1945 collection All In Line. In fact, his New Yorker and his All In Line drawings differ in a great many ways (see, for example, the head at the lower left, left-facing in one and right-facing in the other), something one might readily expect from a series of freehand variations on a theme this complex.

Saul Steinberg
The New Yorker, February 3, 1945, p. 22

Saul Steinberg
All In Line, 1945

https://saulsteinbergfoundation.org/search-artwork/

The Zipriani drawing is close to the better-known All In Line version, but it is by no means identical. So the question is, would Steinberg do such a slavish redrawing of his own work, certainly not his usual practice, or is it a reasonable good copy by someone else perhaps made with a light box? Then again, could Steinberg himself be closely copying over his own work to try to get everything just right for the book version? 

In the style of Saul Steinberg

The final nail in the coffin, I believe, of the Zipriani drawing's authenticity is the company it keeps. Most every piece in the March sale was also described as "in the style of . . . "

Something fishy is apparently going on down in Peru. A comic panel by R. Crumb from HUP #3 (1989) features a noted real estate developer. The variety of hatching, cross-hatching, line quality, and lettering present a challenge to a potential copyist quite distinct from the clean lines of the Steinberg.

https://twitter.com/richard_littler/status/1290922254654672896

A drawing currently for sale on eBay is listed as "Robert Crumb Drawing on paper (Handmade) signed and stamped mixed media vtg art." It is not at all convincing as a Crumb original, particularly when compared with the published HUP panel, and the original is probably a full comic page anyway. The $115 or best offer price should be seen as a tacit acknowledgment of this. The seller, probably not coincidentally, is located in Lima.

The verso is telling as well for the presence of no fewer than five collectors' stamps! Honestly, if one stamp is good, are five better? At the bottom left is yet a third Harris stamp, not the one on the Keller or the Zipriani Auction piece. If that's not convincing enough, there's a Museum of Modern Art stamp at the lower right. Talk about your jaw-dropping provenances!

eBay listing accessed January 5, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/355226508737?hash=item52b5265dc1:g:hfcAAOSwe7hlBMuf&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA0E%2B2sXpWXqbGRsZaGjsMIYdhD9JH5Rvxu5%2B%2BEiWsFYkV3ZiRNrV1lQ2dVvPBHWKMiftubvHr5jJqlq01xUR%2F2%2BZHJ8GM9ZhNa%2FndDzYv29zOhiPMIa9X

yTfT9xIf9SexyeB23wGWNUZE8tJhgTP0ruKvj0G7gM%2BJA3Qt1ejImAGIvOTUSwy%2F6HXQtMjRrn96hhZ%2FHOaRLrN2ESZqsYW1jJbQ1wJpYtOCznSIA5%2F3xTX1gdu%2Bu0IKo4UxS80REb6i73Xrhmx7FLJJq3P2ESu25kE%3D%7Ctkp%3ABFBMhLuBy5tj

eBay item description

Peru then may very well have a workshop churning out copies of drawings, some better than others, and decorating the versos with copies of collectors' stamps including Harris's. As always, caveat emptor.

Note:  I wish to thank cartoonist Michael Maslin and writer Steve Stoliar for helping me to decipher the Zipriani Auction piece. It's taken me the better part of a year to come to my present understanding of it.

Drawings by Saul Steinberg and Otto Soglow

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1945-02-03/flipbook/022/

"Will you be my wives?"
Otto Soglow
The New Yorker, February 3, 1945, p. 23

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Sight Unseen: Jaim Cobeau's (and Ann's) Copy of All In Line by Saul Steinberg?

Jaim Cobeau? The name looks like a typo. What are we to make of the online listing by James Cummins, Bookseller, describing a copy of Saul Steinberg's early book, All In Line (1945), inscribed, with a drawing, "To Jaim Cobeau (and Ann)." I was intrigued as I would be by any book with an original Steinberg drawing, particularly one listed by a reputable seller, although not accompanied by any photograph or scan and complicated by an improbably-named recipient. That vaguely French surname Cobeau looked somewhat off, especially with the not quite Spanish first name Jaim, but it was possibly suggestive of the name of a well-known cartoonist of that era. Still, a concrete connection seemed too much to hope for, so I didn't.

Saul Steinberg
James Cummins, Bookseller, listing accessed September 8, 2022

https://www.jamescumminsbookseller.com/pages/books/326754/saul-steinberg/all-in-line

What I do when confronted with such tantalizing incongruities can best be described as reckless gambling behavior. I take the self-assured stance of a casino goer who, after years of pondering the odds, is nearly certain which card the blackjack dealer will turn over next. In this instance I threw caution, accompanied by $550, to the wind. And what did I come up with?

So this is indeed cartoonist Sam Cobean's (and his wife Anne's) copy of the classic Steinberg book. It is boldy inscribed, "To Sam Cobean (and Ann) with [a tip of the hat]." It's remarkable how flawlessly Steinberg was able to incorporate English, the language of his adopted country, into his work. He can be forgiven for misspelling the co-recipient's name. The book is signed in the year of publication.

I really should move to Las Vegas.

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Betty Parsons's Copy of All in Line by Saul Steinberg

The year 1945 saw the release of Saul Steinberg's collection All in Line. The book is extraordinary. So is his art dealer Betty Parsons's copy.

Photo by Joe Petro III

Photo by Joe Petro III

Photo by Joe Petro III

Photo by Joe Petro III

Photo by Joe Petro III

Note:  This is the fourth and final book dedicated by Saul Steinberg to Betty Parsons that Joe Petro III somehow chanced upon and added to his library. My thanks to Joe for sharing it here.

Wow. I am eager to show more. If you too have access to personalized Steinberg books, or access to someone with access to them, please send scans or photos to me for use on Attempted Bloggery.

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Michael Knudsen's Paper Napkin Drawing by Saul Steinberg

Today David from Manhattan contributes images of a paper restaurant napkin drawn upon by none other than Saul Steinberg (1914-1999). David has spent some considerable time and effort researching this napkin and now he reports his findings to us here. He writes:

This pen and brown ink profile, on a 13 ¼ x10 inch brown napkin, dated April 1946, turned up in late 2010 on eBay, accompanied by a first edition of All In Line, which had come out the year before the drawing.

Saul Steinberg
Napkin inscribed "FOR MIKE with LOVE/ST./April 46"

Detail  of a woman in profile
from All in Line (1945)

Saul Steinberg
All in Line (1945)

https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/Line-Steinberg-Saul-Middlesex-Penguin-Books/13059369278/bd

As the successful buyer, I found out from the seller that it had been part of the estate of Michael B. Knudsen (1911-2010) of Kendall Park, N.J., and was sold, per the instructions of his widow, Sabrina Beaver Knudsen, at a local auction that same year. An on-line obituary included a heartfelt note from Annelise Fjeld Knutsen (correct spelling—not my typo) of Norway, calling Michael “The great American novel in person,” and who answered a letter I sent her. She had no information on the Steinberg drawing or MK’s friendship with the artist, but she had this to say about her father’s second cousin: “Mike was larger than life. He was a painter (he told me that one of his paintings was in a museum in Athens, Ga.), he was an actor (a friend of Henry Fonda, babysitting Jane and Peter), he wrote screenplays (none of them turned into films/plays), he produced men’s cologne…BUT he had sort of a restless, joyful way of living that prevented him from holding focus on one thing. He described himself as a ‘Jack of all trades and master of none.’” A little on-line searching confirmed much of this. In the inventory of the Georgia Museum of Art there is an undated Gouache Abstract by Knudsen (and incorrectly calling him Swedish) which according to curator Sarah Kate Gillespie, was a 1948 gift of Hazel Guggenheim McKinley, a friend of the museum’s founder, Alfred Holbrook, and also Peggy Guggenheim’s sister and Michael’s long-time lover (this last tidbit comes from Ms. Knutsen, not Sarah Kate).

Michael Knudsen's Gouache Abstract in the collection of the Georgia Museum of Art

"Image not available"

https://emuseum.georgiamuseum.org/objects/1874/gouache-abstract?ctx=61929d8e-65c5-4fd9-8db0-e1d46013e8b7&idx=0

Mr. Knudsen also had uncredited parts in two Robert Walker films: "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" (1944) and "The Clock" (1945). In 1957 he created a cologne for men, Gravel, which is no longer made, but still has a serious following, not to mention a flattering website, “Gravel A Man’s Cologne” that features numerous photos of Michael and the story of his “vibrant classic,” which included actual gravel at the bottom of each bottle. I also found a copyrighted booklet, Interlocking rug sections and padding for do-it-yourself wall-to-wall carpeting, also from 1957, and most likely not screenplay material.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/saul-steinberg-joel-smith/1111812857

The year Steinberg made his drawing is also of interest. According to the Chronology at the back of Joel Smith’s Saul Steinberg: Illuminations (2006), Steinberg belonged “to a regular crowd of artists, designers, writers, and architects who socialize at Del Pezzo, a midtown Manhattan restaurant.” From June ‘46 on, he left New York and traveled widely. Del Pezzo is not mentioned again. If I ever have an opportunity to examine Steinberg’s appointment book from that period at Yale, I might discover if Steinberg had dinner with “Mike” one night in April, or if it was merely an unplanned encounter. At least one photo of Hazel Guggenheim I located is reminiscent of the woman on the napkin, which raises the question of whether Knudsen was by himself that evening at Del Pezzo.

Hazel Guggenheim

Detail of profile

Michael Knudsen and Hazel Guggenheim

https://www.gravelcologne.com/en/story-behind-gravel-cologne/?v=7516fd43adaa

Michael Knudsen
Work on paper

https://www.ebay.com/itm/142658374259

How much longer Michael Knudsen’s art career lasted, I have no idea, but examples of his work turn up from time to time on eBay, and were probably part of the same 2010 New Jersey auction that sold the napkin (including two pieces currently offered by a seller from Scotch Plains). I suspect that Knudsen’s friendship with Steinberg, despite the warmth of the inscription, was not long term; the Steinberg Foundation has no information on him.

Detail of napkin inscription

Saul Steinberg's signature on a brown paper napkin

Saul Steinberg
"Pencil Sketch"
eBay Listing Ended December 7, 2010

Note:  My sincere thanks to David from Manhattan for contributing the photographs in today's post and contextualizing them with all his research. This is David's thirty-fifth contribution to the blog for those who like to keep score at home.
 

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