Saul Steinberg

Whatever Steinberg’s work they are particularly interested in, specialists and passionate amateurs often try to qualify the drawings they hold in their hands. And the word “brilliant” often comes to mind. Even if they know that one must be wary of superlatives and that the term “genius” rarely applies to a contemporary. But, it is obvious, Steinberg is a case. Neither painter, nor illustrator, nor chronicler of current events, he has this interest for the man who makes him treat, with the same lucidity, with an unequalled vivacity of spirit, with a surprising safety of the line – the lightning response of his pencil to the idea which passed by his head holds the miracle – the prodigiously varied subjects which generated, in some decades, a colossal work. Yes, Steinberg is a genius. In his pure state.