Sam's Art, from the New York International portfolio, 1966

Saul Steinberg
Sam's Art, from The New York International Portfolio), 1966
Lithograph on wove paper with blind stamp
Pencil signed and numbered 12/225 on the front
Published by Tanglewood Press, Knickerbocker Machine and Foundry, Inc., New York
Printed by Irwin Hollander with blind stamp
Unframed
This Steinberg lithograph is titled Sam's Art, which of course refers to Uncle Sam, the nickname for the United States government. It features his version of the motto seen on our dollar bills, "Annuit Coeptis", which is one of the mottoes found on the Great Seal of the United States. It is directly underneath the "Eye of Providence" and is translated by the US Treasury and State Department as "God (or Providence) favors our undertakings". American President Abraham Lincoln, sitting in front of an easel, is also depicted as an artist in this telling 1960s work.

Commentary:
"In Saul Steinberg’s lithograph ‘Sam’s Art’, Abraham Lincoln, in stove-pipe hat, poses as the artist in front of his canvas. While his attention looks fixed on rendering the slightly wobbly pyramid with an eye, the Masonic motif from the back of the one dollar bill, the line from his brush has floated off the canvas to become a cubist-futurist cloud in the sky. The American Eagle looks on, perched on a civil war cannon. The absurdity is reinforced by the pseudo-calligraphy surrounding this tableau..." - IMMA

More about Saul Steinberg
Saul Steinberg produced drawings, sculptures, photographs, and collages that continue to elicit critical contemplation.
Having studied architecture in Milan, he fled wartime Italy in 1941 and became an American citizen two years later. Influenced by Dada, Surrealism, Cubism, and Pop, Steinberg’s varied output reflects the defiant humor, curiosity, and modernist attitude of an artist trying to make sense of the chaotic postwar period. Marked by a self-aware wit, his work embraces double meanings and philosophical content expressed through graphic means. Widely celebrated for his contributions to The New Yorker, Steinberg’s art became an exploration of social and political systems, language, and art itself.

Steinberg’s work is held in permanent collections internationally, including the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York; Art Institute of Chicago; The Baltimore Museum of Art; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Jewish Museum, New York; Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, among others.
-Courtesy PACE Gallery

Provenance:
This print came directly from the legendary New York International portfolio published by Tanglewood Press in 1966, which featured prints by nine other international artists including Arman, Mary Bauermeister, Öyvind Fahlström, John Goodyear, Charles Hinman, Allen Jones, Robert Motherwell, Ad Reinhardt, and Steinberg. Steinberg's print from this portfolio is in the permanent collection of major institutions such as the Brooklyn Museum. This is the first time in 45 years that the print has been separated from the portfolio. It was stored in the original portfolio box with the colophon page as provenance.

Excellent condition; never framed.