By Saul Steinberg
Located in New York, NY
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...
Category
1960s Abstract Virginia - Prints and Multiples
