Image Dimensions: 6 3/4 x 7 5/8 in (17 x 19.5 cm)
Framed Dimensions: 12 5/8 x 13 1/2 in (32 x 34.4 cm)

Provenance and Authentication:
According to the Letter of Authenticity (LOA) and Certificate of Authenticity (COA) provided by the consignor, this collectible was subjected to a forensic examination. The accompanying documentation states that the signatures were evaluated with reference to multiple characteristics, including ink deposition, material and aging characteristics, stylistic consistency, and historical context. Based on the examination described in these documents, the authentication provider concluded that the findings were consistent with the attributed signatures. The LOA and COA provided by the consignor accompany the lot.

A signed figural drawing by Saul Steinberg (1914-1999), presenting an imaginative encounter between an artist and an elaborate female portrait. The woman's face dominates the composition, her features and hair transformed into an intricate vocabulary of curling, botanical, and ornamental lines. At right, a dramatically simplified geometric figure holds an artist's palette while pointing toward the portrait. Signed "STEINBERG" at the lower right.

The contrast between the two figures is central to the visual wit of the composition. While the portrait is animated by elaborate curvilinear detail, the artist himself is reduced almost to a graphic symbol. The palette and pointing gesture introduce a playful meditation on image-making, perception, and the relationship between artist and subject-ideas that occupied an important place throughout Steinberg's remarkably inventive career.

One of the most distinctive figures in 20th-century American graphic art, Steinberg became internationally celebrated through his long association with The New Yorker. His drawings dissolved conventional boundaries between cartooning, fine art, architecture, language, and visual symbolism, creating an unmistakably intellectual form of humor. Combining portraiture, the figure of the artist, visual metaphor, and Steinberg's signature linear vocabulary, the present framed drawing offers notable appeal to collectors of American illustration, modern works on paper, and The New Yorker history.