Saul Steinberg: Gallery Flyer from 1952

Contributor Scott Burns has turned up a variant on the Saul Steinberg lettersheet we saw here last week issued for the 1952 art exhibition "Drawings" upon which gallerists Sidney Janis and Betty Parsons collaborated. This flyer, unlike the lettersheet, does not have two blank sides on the inside. Rather, the four drawings from the outside of the lettersheet are folded into the inside of the flyer, and the outside of the flyer is a wraparound drawing of Venice's Piazza San Marco with the printed announcement of the show.

A Wikipedia photo dated 2021 is shown for reference. Steinberg's vantage point was evidently higher up in the colonnade.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piazza_San_Marco#/media/File:P
iazza_San_Marco_(Venice)_at_night-msu-2021-6449-.jpg

Note:  I am grateful to Scott Burns who seems to know what I want to see even before I do. This is his nineteenth contribution to Attempted Bloggery.

If you too have something I want to see by Saul Steinberg, feel free to send a few images without my having to ask.

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Saul Steinberg: Gallery Lettersheet from 1952

Today David from Manhattan writes of a rare eBay acquisition related to Saul Steinberg, who has been our subject these past three days:

Saul Steinberg was close to Betty Parsons, the artist and brilliant gallery owner who was an early champion of mid-century art. But even though, like others, he went over to the more commercial Sidney Janis Gallery in 1951, he made sure he didn't abandon Betty. When Steinberg's first Janis show opened in January 1952, the show included the Parsons Gallery, just across the hall from the Janis Gallery at East 57th St. This lettersheet, possibly a suggestion of Parsons with final approval of the drawings by Steinberg, is four pages, 9 1/2 x 6 7/8", illustrated front & back, and when opened, pages 2 & 3 are waiting to be written on. The text on front makes it clear the exhibition was a joint effort of the two gallerists. This was on eBay years ago as a Buy It Now listing. Memory suggests the price was around $50. But no complaints here, even if there wasn't a letter inside signed "ST" or maybe "Saul." After this show, the artist would have a self-imposed exile from exhibitions in New York until 1966.

Note:  I'm still thanking David from Manhatton for his ongoing contributions to the blog, and I'm still counting them. The number is now 63.

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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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Betty Parsons's Copy of Fourteen Americans Signed by Saul Steinberg

Fourteen Americans was published by the Museum of Modern Art in 1946 concurrently with an exhibition. The catalogue is long out of print, but MoMa keeps a PDF of their file copy online. Saul Steinberg was included in the show. It is helpful to see the catalogue's cover as published before seeing how Steinberg embellished a copy for his gallerist Betty Parsons.

https://assets.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_3196_300062046.pdf

Steinberg personalized Parsons's copy using a blue-colored pencil. The book's cover has some evidence of exposure to dampness over the years. Still it is quite remarkable what Steinberg has done:

Photo by Joe Petro III

Let's go back to MoMA's file copy. The list of the fourteen artists offers proof, if any were needed, that Steinberg was the penultimate American:

https://assets.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_3196_300062046.pdf

The title page:

https://assets.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_3196_300062046.pdf

There are two pages devoted to Saul Steinberg's work:

https://assets.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_3196_300062046.pdf

https://assets.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_3196_300062046.pdf

Note:  My thanks again go to Joe Petro III for photographing the cover of Betty Parsons's book. Joe somehow found four of these books dedicated by Steinberg to Parsons and that, my friends, leaves one more for tomorrow.

Saul Steinberg personalized many books to many people. I would be only too pleased to show more of these on Attempted Bloggery.

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Betty Parsons's Copy of The Inspector by Saul Steinberg

Saul Steinberg's collection The Inspector was published in 1973. This copy is warmly inscribed to his longtime art dealer Betty Parsons.

Photo by Joe Petro III

Photo by Joe Petro III

Note:  Thanks to Joe Petro III for sending me images of this unique book from his collection. Joe has three other books dedicated by Steinberg to Betty Parsons and it's a safe bet you will be seeing them here.

By the way, books personalized by Saul Steinberg are something I'm looking to post on this blog. (Hint.)

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