Saul Steinberg, et al.: From the Library of Stephen Sondheim

Earlier this month, Doyle New York sold off some select items from the estate of Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim (1930-2021). For those of us who were never invited into Sondheim's living room, this was a rare chance to view, among other things, some of the songwriter's library.

A shelf full of some twenty-five art monographs included three essential books by Saul Steinberg (1914-1999): The Passport (1949), The Labyrinth (1960), and The Inspector (1973). 

It's no surprise that the composer of "Sunday in the Park with George" (1984) should have several books about Georges Seurat on the shelf, but what about Georges de La Tour? Based on the number of books, Sondheim seems to have really appreciated his work. Christopher Finch's The Art of Walt Disney is the source of much of what I know on the subject. Sondheim also kept many of Dover's excellent Gustave Doré editions.

Looking further down to the next lot, there's The Best of H. T. Webster (on the bottom shelf in blue). On the fine arts side, there's a fair helping on Botero and Van Gogh, among many others.

I do love to sneak the occasional peak into people's libraries. I can't be the only one.

Stephen Sondheim books
Sale of June 18, 2024
It's great that the cataloguer chooses to single out different art subjects than I did.

https://attemptedbloggery.blogspot.com/2012/12/new-yorker-cartoons-at-auction.html

Stephen Sondheim books
Sale of June 18, 2024

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/a-group-of-art-monographs-177-c-0a341edafc?objectID=189111387&algIndex=archive_lotNumber_asc_prod&queryID=2566416d8973bd6e5738f988024ea071

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Looking at Gallery Art: Two Saul Steinberg Magazine Covers

One artist: Saul Steinberg. One subject: spectators looking thoughtfully at art in a gallery. Two years of publication: 1961 and 1969. Two magazines: Art in America and The New Yorker. One question: Could these two magazine covers be more different?

Saul Steinberg

Art in America, No. 2, 1961, Vol. 49, No. 2

https://www.biblio.com/book/art-america-lipman-jean/d/1446879510

"COVER:   By Saul Steinberg, adapted from a drawing in The Labyrinth for the symposium 'What Should a Museum Be?'"

The Art in America wraparound cover was not identical to the drawing as it first appeared in The Labyrinth (1960). For the symposium image, Steinberg added to the right-hand portion of the drawing. He gave the woman in the background a geometric hat and put another woman behind her, seemingly emerging from her back. He put the outline of another figure immediately behind the stout man at center. He also gave the picture on the right a three-dimensional frame thicker on the bottom than the top.

https://www.pinterest.ch/pin/344243965265568162/

Steinberg's later New Yorker cover depicts a similar setting, but with a remarkable stream of consciousness.

Saul Steinberg
 The New Yorker, October 18, 1969

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Saul Steinberg: Eat

Saul Steinberg's drawing Eat was sold at Bonhams Skinner Marlborough on Thursday. The Saul Steinberg Foundation refers to this sort of composition as a word-object drawing.

Eat, 1960
Saul Steinberg
Original art
 The New Yorker, August 20, 1960, p. 30
The Labyrinth, 1960

It makes a strong graphic statement mounted in a black frame on a black matte.

Steinberg's pencilled notes indicate the year of creation, 1960, and that it was published in The New Yorker and in his collection The Labyrinth (1960).

Saul Steinberg's signature

The drawing, evidently unsold, was given to Marcus Ratliff in 1979 and was sold by his estate.

The presale estimate of $500-700 makes the piece seem almost in reach. Indeed this might have been the range of the asking price in the 1970s.

Saul Steinberg
Invaluable listing accessed November 16, 2022

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/saul-steinberg-american-1914-1999-eat-framed-23-x-21-c-8834cbdb61?objectID=175387832&algIndex=undefined&queryID=974cfd7c24ab93a291e23c33d30f500b

Sold!

Saul Steinberg

Bonhams Skinner Modern & Contemporary Art

November 17, 2022

Lot 21

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/28199/lot/22/wolf-kahn-germanamerican-1927-2020-near-the-potomac-in-spring-framed-29-14-x-67-14-in/

The hammer price is $8,000, which comes to $10,200 with the buyer's premium. Yet this drawing was only one of nine published in The New Yorker of August 20, 1960, over an extraordinary untitled four-page spread.

Drawings by Saul Steinberg

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1960-08-20/flipbook/030/

Note: The Saul Steinberg Foundation's website has still more of these word-object drawings.

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