A Life of Drawings is Celebrated

Any artist who sketches Trotsky having apple pie and tea at an automat on Broadway in 1917 is sure to evoke curiosity.

Saul Steinberg's cartoons and sketches, many of which appeared in the New Yorker over a period of nearly six decades, are currently being shown at two parallel exhibitions in Manhattan. At the Museum of the City of New York in East Harlem, "A City on Paper: Saul Steinberg's New York," which is running through March 25, contains a small selection of Steinberg's works focused exclusively on New York City. "Saul Steinberg: Illuminations," at the Morgan Gallery until March 4, presents a much broader overview of Steinberg's drawing career, from his first published cartoons in Italian tabloids to his infamous New Yorker covers.

The Romanian-born "master satirist" Steinberg (1914-1999) immigrated to New York in 1942 and quickly became one of New York's most beloved cartoonists. Steinberg was sometimes referred to as "the Picasso of cartoonists," and it was perhaps his position as an outsider that enabled him to develop such a sharp and unique perspective on city life. Steinberg's sense of humor is not only contagious, but also quite socially conscious. While some of his cartoons make the viewer laugh out loud, others invoke a sardonic half-sneer.

"A City on Paper" unites Steinberg's works with related historic photographs, postcards, and documents. The artist's famous sketch of the Chrysler Building from a pedestrian's perspective is exhibited next to various postcards of the Chrysler Building from the 1900s. Steinberg's cartoon of the Hotel Lafayette-where he first stayed upon his arrival in New York-is placed right beside an advertising placard for the hotel. The museum successfully uses objects from its own archives to enhance the visitor's understanding of Steinberg's New York.

Although "Illuminations" provides no such historical city background, the gallery does present a significantly more thorough selection of Steinberg's works. Here the visitor can see Steinberg's experimentation with cubism, sketches from his travels across Europe, and even his stage designs for various operas. Whereas it is possible to walk out of the Museum of New York's exhibit thinking that Steinberg only drew cartoons, the Morgan presents some of his entirely serious pieces, including portraits of Delacroix and Giacometti and works such as Cassino, showing the disastrous siege of Nazi forces at the Benedictine Abbey at Montecassino. Thus, "Illuminations" presents a more well-rounded view of Steinberg, culminating in his most famous 1976 New Yorker cover titled, "View of the World From Ninth Avenue," portraying the typical Manhattanite's worldview.

Despite the Morgan's richer selection of Steinberg's works, they are all cramped into one room and seem somewhat thrown together without order. In contrast, the smaller and less well-known Museum of New York does a wonderful job of grouping Steinberg's works into distinct themes, such as "the women of New York" and "rush hour." In Three Women and Four Dogs, Steinberg ridicules the pompous display of wealth among New York's upper classes by sketching obese women clad in gaudy coats. One woman holds her nose so high that her little dog is left hanging in mid-air. Subway Exit presents identical men in top hats and women in fur coats marching out of a subway like soldiers.

A refreshing walk through Central Park and free admission with a Columbia ID should lure those who want to familiarize themselves with Steinberg's work to the Museum of the City of New York. If this taste of Steinberg's humor leaves the visitor unsatiated, a trip down to the Morgan­-with the extra bonus of seeing architect Renzo Piano's new addition to the historical gallery-is highly recommended. Either way, becoming acquainted with Steinberg's cartoons is a definite requirement for those of us looking to become true New Yorkers.