Saul Steinberg: A Biography Part 37

"Romanian winter": ST to AB, March 11, 1969, SSF.

"I function poorly these days": ST to AB, September 16, 1969, SSF.

They met for the first time: The first meeting took place on September 12, 1965, according to ST's 1965 datebook, YCAL, Box 3. Information pertaining to van Dalen is from an interview with him, October 5, 2007.

Steinberg asked van Dalen to walk: "Steinberg would move through subject matter. Something would come up that fascinated him and he would work it through, follow it through. I just started at the east end [of Ca.n.a.l Street] and walked west and photographed everything I saw. I always wondered if he had a woman who lived down there because he was so fascinated with it"; Anton van Dalen, interview, October 5, 2007.

"The true artist": Mimi Gross, interview, March 9, 2010.

She kept up with the literature: HS, interview, October 7, 2007.

The dunning letters: These and copies of many other overdue bills are in YCAL, Box 8.

Money became a concern again: ST, Week At A Glance, 1969, YCAL, Box 3.

He invested a good part of everything: As of 1970, $20,978.35; see TNY annual report of partic.i.p.ation trust from Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, YCAL, Box 8.

"July 24: S. hits me": Information that follows is from SS, diary, 1969, YCAL, Box 108.

"such an extreme and extravagant change": SS to ST, December 6, 1969, YCAL, Box 112.

"hate and disgust": SS to ST, January 1, 1970, YCAL, Box 112.

Steinberg had wanted to return to Africa: Information in this paragraph is from ST to AB, March 28, 1970.

"crocodile man": From what appears to be the earliest transcript of the conversations with Grace Glueck that became the article "The Artist Speaks," Arts in America, NovemberDecember 1970, pp. 11017.

He was speaking of Alistair Graham: Alistair Graham, Eyelids of Morning: The Mingled Destinies of Crocodiles and Men (San Francisco: Chronicle, 197376; reissued 1990). Graham's correspondence with Steinberg is in YCAL, Box 8.

Graham urged Steinberg to go: Steinberg never visited Lake Rudolph. He sent a thank-you letter to Graham, who replied that ST's description of Murchison Falls "confirms my suspicion that your taste in Africa is as good as it is in wit"; Alistair Graham to ST, April 25 [1970], YCAL, Box 8.

On his first day in Nairobi: Bellow claimed they were both wearing American baseball hats, but this detail, like many others he allegedly recalled, is in dispute. See also "Saul Steinberg," The Republic of Letters, no. 7, November 1999; Saul Steinberg, "Saul Bellow in Uganda," Saul Bellow Journal 4, no. 2 (1985): 2425.

In an article Bellow wrote: Bellow, "Saul Steinberg," p. 29.

it is highly unlikely: However, ST did tell Grace Glueck that he and Angelini "had a ball going around on donkeys and mules in cowboy hats, smoking has.h.i.+sh and seeing these-well, more than the churches."

Steinberg observed how the biologist: Information that follows is from Glueck, unedited transcripts of interviews, copies at SSF.

He had accepted an extremely lucrative commission: Harry Abrams prepared a portfolio of six lithographs with collage that guaranteed ST income in the range of $32,000 (if sold by dealers) to $40,000 (if sold directly by the publisher); YCAL, Box 8.

"enter into investigative discussions": These are among the many requests in YCAL, Box 8. ST did eventually send the paintings, which were exhibited in the fall at the Carnegie International Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, Pittsburgh.

Van Dalen also had to take care of: Palm Springs Desert Museum donation, September 24, 1970; $100 to East Hampton Guild Hall, August 4, 1970; Guild Hall poster earned $500. All in YCAL, Box 8.

Steinberg was against the war: Lica Roman to ST, n.d., YCAL, Box 8.

He did, however, contribute: Manifesto, April 1970; Dolci invitation, n.d. Both in YCAL, Box 8.

"closed up ... into my sh.e.l.l": ST to AB, November 8, 1970.

Despite his silence, she sent: The message read, "I wish I were there with you"; SS to ST, n.d., YCAL, Box 8.

"less lonely here alone": SS to ST, May 9, 1970, YCAL, Box 112.

Gross and Grooms were so concerned: Mimi Gross, interview, March 9, 2010.

"It has been coming for a long time": SS to ST, n.d. but internal evidence suggests fall 1970, YCAL, Box 8.

"pretend the problem does not exist": ST to AB, November 8, 1970.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: FURNITURE AS BIOGRAPHY.

"I go to work as though out of remorse": ST to AB, April 12, 1971, SSF.

"Here I've spent five days": ST to AB, February 1, 1971, SSF.

He had checked himself into: Bills in YCAL, Box 6, show that his stay in the clinic, Keltenstra.s.se 48, Zurich, cost approximately $1,000. Before he entered the clinic he stayed at the Hotel Baur au Lac and afterward in the Dolder Grand Hotel. In 1974 he went to the Buchinger-Klinik am Bodensee, on Lake Constance, Switzerland, where he paid 2,000 DM to "take the cure" through fasting and to have medical tests done, primarily on his heart. YCAL, Box 40.

he continued to smoke: In a medical history he gave at Sloan-Kettering Hospital for a 1995 biopsy, he said he smoked one to two packs daily for thirty years but smoked his last cigarette in 1972.

It was one of his two solo exhibitions: Chicago: "Annual Works on Paper;" Corcoran Gallery of Art: "Seven Enormously Popular American Artists"; "Le Dessin d'humour," Bibliotheque Nationale.

He was a judge: Emily Genauer praised the show for not being "one more opportunistic theme show in this time of Women's Lib" and praised Steinberg and several others for "quality pieces that are, in several instances, surprisingly offbeat"; Emily Genauer, review of "She," New York Post, January 16, 1971.

"a couple million scientologists": Tom Solari to ST, August 4, 1971, YCAL, Box 101. He refers to L. Ron Hubbard's The Fundamentals of Thought.

Storm clouds explode: Anton van Dalen recalled that Warhol and Steinberg were "intrigued by each other" but he and ST were invited to visit the Factory only once, during the daylight hours, when no one was there to party. Van Dalen called Warhol "an incredibly polite guy and I think he was a fan of Steinberg's"; Anton van Dalen, interview, October 5, 1007.

"left his study for the streets": Smith, Steinberg at The New Yorker, p. 41; Anton van Dalen, interview, October 5, 2007.

Some of Steinberg's ideas: His collection is in YCAL, Boxes 91 and 92.

"evidently lost all sight": HS to ST, n.d., YCAL, microfilm letters.

"on probation": SS, calendar for 1971, in which she lists "Mistakes of summer '71," YCAL, Box 108; ST to AB, April 12, 1971, SSF.

They returned home despondent: SS, diary, April 13, 1971, YCAL, Box 108.

He relished being in the distinguished company: These names are found on the small sc.r.a.ps of writing in HS's hand throughout the YCAL boxes, often with her comments about the person's importance, beauty, or originality.

Steinberg was inordinately proud: ST to AB, November 11, 1971, SSF.

"a writer's work is a lot more difficult": ST to Aime Maeght, October 6, 1971, copy in SSF.

The euphoria dissipated abruptly: ST to AB, January 24, 1973, SSF.

He had flown to Zurich: ST to Aime Maeght, October 6, 1971, copy in SSF.

The last decision was the most crucial: ST to Sidney Janis, May 1, 1971, YCAL, Box 101. On January 4, 1972, ST thanked Maeght for sending him $50,000 as part of his earnings from prior exhibitions; ST to Aime Maeght, copy in SSF.

"sensational news": ST to AB, March 17, 1972, SSF.

"metemphyschosis": ST to AB, March 17, 1972, SSF; Joyce has Leopold Bloom meditate upon metempsychosis, loosely translated as "the transmigration of the soul," in Ulysses, episode 8, "Lestrygonians."

"Saul with warm blue scarf": ST to SS, uberlingen, January 24, 1972, YCAL, Box 108.

And because Sigrid felt the need: Information that follows is from a list of their travels in a mini-planner kept by ST, YCAL, Box 102; and a MoMA pictorial diary 197172, YCAL, Box 3.

One of her best paintings: The painting, done in 1979, was 6 ft. x 6 ft., described by Rose Slivka as "pencil and thin oil of pink tans like skin tones, with greens here and there to indicate water and rivers on a large gray ground." It hung in ST's studio in Springs for many years and was the focal point of several exhibitions of SS's work, particularly the show at Ashawagh Hall in October 1986. See Rose C. S. Slivka, "From the Studio (Sigrid Spaeth)," East Hampton Star, October 9, 1986.

Africa became the only place: SS, diary, YCAL, Box 111.

"of these absurd trips": ST to AB, March 17, 1972, SSF.

To Hedda, he said merely: HS, interview, October 24, 2007.

"like the previous collections": ST to AB, June 1, 1972, SSF.

To Aime Maeght, he said everything was just fine: ST to Aime Maeght, April 7, 1972, copy in SSF.

It had always been a very special holiday: Throughout her diary writings in YCAL, Boxes 100, 101, 108, and 109, SS always notes if ST sent roses to commemorate the holiday or if he ignored it-a sign that they were estranged.

"struggle against tobacco": ST to AB, December 9, 1972, SSF.

"beautiful and simple": ST to AB, September 25, 1972, SSF.

he now had a second studio a.s.sistant: Gordon Pulis worked for ST for twenty-two years. In an interview, September 22, 2007, Pulis said, "We didn't hit it off the first time we met, at a dinner with [William] Gaddis and Muriel [Oxenberg Murphy] and Sigrid. Five years later, I told him about that first dinner. He said nothing that I can remember when I told him we had met before; I think he just stared at me." Before ST hired Pulis, he hired a woman whose name is not known to help with ink and color drawings. Pulis said, "She was totally incompetent, which is how he came to get my name the second time when he hired me."

"a bit sinister": ST to AB, September 25, 1972, SSF.

Sometimes he found a remnant: S:I, p. 40, fig. 31. See also figures of dog tag, datebook, and camera on p. 196.

He began to make other objects as well: Cartier-Bresson's camera is in the collection of the Fondation Cartier-Bresson, Paris. Helen Levitt's was in her possession at the time of her death in 2009.

"the rather animal world of painters": ST to AB, March 10, 1973, SSF.

"I think there were too many": ST hired Sig Lomaky in the 1960s for occasional help in constructing his wooden sculptures. He writes about Lomaky in R & S, pp. 9094.

He himself may have been unable: The comment is by Gordon Pulis, interview, September 22, 2007. ST is shown making his own carved wood objects in the last half of the film Du cote chez les Maeght, October 1973. (The first half features Valerio Adami.) One of the earliest tables: S:I, Catalogue 71, p. 196.

At the top of the tableau: ST often incorporated actual etching plates into the tables.

Steinberg called one of the intriguing: Wood a.s.semblage with crayon and pencil, depicted in S:I, p. 216 bottom.

Many were three-dimensional replicas: He left them to Yale University and they currently make up YCAL, Boxes 13472. The objects themselves were not in the YCAL bequest and are in SSF.

Whether he referred to them: Gordon Pulis, telephone conversation, June 29, 2010.

Hedda Sterne thought it was because: Ibid.; HS, interview, October 7, 2007; Daniela Roman, conversation, July 27, 2008. Sheila Schwartz confirmed that "Furniture as Biography," wood a.s.semblage with crayon and pencil, was on the transparency from which the photo in S:I, p. 216, fig. 84, was made. She thinks the t.i.tle "Grand Hotel" may have been given in the course of preparing the 1987 show and catalogue. According to Pace's records, the work was returned to ST on May 2, 1989, which is when he probably consigned it to the cellar beneath his studio. Schwartz does not know when or by whom it was disa.s.sembled, but she verified that several pieces of it are still extant, now owned by SSF.

One of the most revealing wooden constructions: Pencil and mixed media on wood a.s.semblage, depicted in S:I, p. 216, fig. 84.

"in fact, I'm preparing a show": ST to AB, March 10, 1973, SSF.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE: UP TO MY NOSE IN TROUBLE.

"All's well here": ST to AB, May 4, 1974, SSF.

"The show, yes, it went well": ST to AB, March 10, 1973, SSF.

"utterly captivated": Philip Guston to ST, February 4, 1973, YCAL, Box 102.

"the boring problems": ST to AB, January 24, 1973, SSF.

He found what he wanted: ST to AB, June 28, 1973, SSF. He bought the apartment on May 31, 1973, from Edgar and Joan P. Stillman, for a total cost of $71,500. He did not get a mortgage but paid them $41,500 cash and they held a promissory note for $30,000. Doc.u.mentation in YCAL, Box 39.

"a talented, charming, reliable man": Letters dated April 1973. Bodian was a partner in the CPA firm of Breiner & Bodian; YCAL, Box 103. In a legal doc.u.ment that "settled the rights and interests" of ST and HS, December 19, 1989, YCAL, Box 71, ST's net worth had risen to $4,669,000.

It resembled all too closely: Doc.u.ments and photocopies of most of his members.h.i.+ps and awards, YCAL, Box 32.

His dues were in arrears: ST became a member in 1965, nominated by Eric Larrabee, Sidney Simon, and Brendan Gill. He resigned on October 19, 1975, because he never used the club's facilities. I am grateful to Dr. Russell Flinchum, archivist of the Century a.s.sociation, for doc.u.mentation concerning ST's members.h.i.+p.

"Everyone ... looked fabulous": "Suzy," New York Daily News, March 20, 1974, YCAL, Box 32.

The most oft-repeated story: Among the many people who told versions of these stories in interviews were HS, AB, Vita Peterson, Ruth Nivola, and Christo and Jeanne-Claude. I had conversations with others who were guests on these occasions and claimed to have witnessed them firsthand but did not wish to be cited.

He hired the architect: Various doc.u.ments concerning the renovation are in YCAL, Box 73. Floor plans for alterations, May 1978, are in YCAL, Box 32. PC, e-mail, July 20, 2010, provided details of the layout. In his veiled datebook notations, "Ala" had been appearing for the better part of the previous decade.

He ended up living through: ST to AB, June 28, 1973; Anton van Dalen, interview, October 5, 2007.

Finally, everything was settled and approved: ST to AB, November 12, 1973, SSF.

The two housing decisions were momentous: ST to AB, December 3, 1973, SSF.

He thought the addition dwarfed: ST to AB, February 1, 1974, SSF.