abstract image; geometric forms and arcs roughly in in form of a reversed small letter h; silver arcing wedge in LLC; top half of a portion of a wooden dowel with a white line placed horizontally at center right; wedge with rusty tack heads above and to right of silver wedge; yellow wedge at center; grey pigments concentrated in LRC and URC, with some crayon shading in LRC; round stamps at top left of center and on tan fabric above and to left of center; white fabric in shape of a sideways squared-off letter P at center; metal engraved name plate at bottom center: "STEINBERG"; thick white border and thin yellow border; received with Plexi vitrine cover

%C2%A9 The Saul Steinberg Foundation %2F Artists Rights Society %28ARS%29%2C New York

Still Life Table, 1970

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In this homage to the Cubist masters Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, Saul Steinberg borrows their vocabulary to make his own Cubist still life. The curving form with a black circle alludes to the guitars often seen in early Cubist images. His brass nameplate is nailed to what appears to be a violin. The tack heads speckle a form akin to an absinthe glass, sculptures of which Picasso famously painted with polka dots. The half cylinder and the gouged-out area above it draw attention to the spatial ambiguities set up by the seemingly—but not really—overlapping planes throughout the image.

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Details
Title
Still Life Table
Artist Life
1914–1999
Role
Artist
Accession Number
2018.122.6
Provenance
The artist, New York; Saul Steinberg Foundation, New York; given to MIA, 2018.
Curator Approved

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abstract image; geometric forms and arcs roughly in in form of a reversed small letter h; silver arcing wedge in LLC; top half of a portion of a wooden dowel with a white line placed horizontally at center right; wedge with rusty tack heads above and to right of silver wedge; yellow wedge at center; grey pigments concentrated in LRC and URC, with some crayon shading in LRC; round stamps at top left of center and on tan fabric above and to left of center; white fabric in shape of a sideways squared-off letter P at center; metal engraved name plate at bottom center: "STEINBERG"; thick white border and thin yellow border; received with Plexi vitrine cover

© The Saul Steinberg Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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