A work made of collage of cut-and-pasted commercially printed papers, and pen and black ink, over graphite with erasing, ruled in graphite, on ivory wove paper.

Downtown Building

1952

Saul Steinberg American, born Romania, 1914-1999

United States

Collage—combining disparate elements to make a whole—is arguably the most important creative technique introduced by modern artists. It is utilized across many artistic media, from drawing to filmmaking, and it was a constant in Steinberg’s toolbox. Here he pokes serious fun at superfluous architectural details, composing his skyscraper of cut-and-pasted printed illustrations, substituting pictures of a pipe organ and decorative interior niches for the building’s registers.

Collage of cut-and-pasted commercially printed papers, and pen and black ink, over graphite with erasing, ruled in graphite, on ivory wove paper

Prints and Drawings