PACE GALLERY hosts saul steinberg’s ‘imagined interiors’ exhibition online

digital exhibition tour: PACE GALLERY presents ‘saul steinberg: imagined interiors’ — the first in a series of thematic and solo exhibitions created exclusively for the gallery’s online platform to be mounted during this unprecedented period of temporary closures. curated by michaëla mohrmann, associate curatorial director at PACE, imagined interiors explores drawings, collages, and photographs by saul steinberg that center on the theme of domesticity and the nature of interior spaces as ideal sites for introspection and creativity, resonating with the current unique human experience many are navigating around the world. the exhibition will be on view through PACE’s online viewing room platform for a two-week period from march 23 – april 6, 2020.

untitled, 1978 | pencil and colored pencil on paper | 10-1/2″ × 13-3/4″ (26.7 cm × 34.9 cm) | no. 67673
main image: untitled (train passengers), 1952 | pen, ink and graphite on paper
14-1/2″ x 23-1/4″ (36.8 cm x 59.1 cm) | no. 58878

steinberg redefined the possibilities of drawing, casting it as a philosophical investigation, ‘a way of reasoning on paper.’ he earned critical acclaim as a modernist artist in the post-war period, while his numerous drawings and covers for the new yorker made him dear to a broad american public — the people whose daily lives and customs became the subject of his art. through a series of five groupings — creative pursuits at home, in good company: pets, portals to other worlds, the fantastic everyday, and at home in public — mohrmann has assembled an expansive yet intimate online exhibition of steinberg’s ingenious experiments with drawing and other media, addressing the private sphere in relation to modern phenomena such as urbanization.

untitled, 1981 | brush and ink, marker, colored pencil and graphite on paper
14-1/2″ x 23-1/4″ (36.8 cm x 59.1 cm) | no. 58957

drawing connections between steinberg’s life and work, the exhibition is accompanied by archival imagery of the artist at his home and studio in amagansett, new york. it also features an enhanced audio-visual user experience that includes charles louise ambroise thomas’s ‘gavotte’ from the opera mignon — a composition for the violin referenced in one of steinberg’s drawings — and a poem by william carlos willams, lending rich context to the works on view. through styles exuding dynamic vitality and autobiographical details evocative of distant locations — from his hometown in romania to edo period japan — steinberg’s work unearths the creative possibilities and hidden horizons within one’s home.

untitled (victorian interior), 1949-1954 | ink over pencil on paper
14-1/4″ × 23″ (36.2 cm × 58.4 cm) | no. 67662

in addition to imagined interiors, PACE will present several digital exhibitions over the course of the coming weeks, including: a group exhibition dedicated to ceramics, an exhibition of works inspired by nature, and a focus on photography on the topic of america’s cultural history, that primarily engage with human experience in this climate of solitary interconnection.

untitled, 1949 | ink on paper
14-5/8″ × 23-1/4″ (37.1 cm × 59.1 cm) | no. 67668

untitled, 1989 | colored pencil, crayon and pencil on MBM ingres d’arches folded in half
19-5/8″ × 26-7/8″ (49.8 cm × 68.3 cm) | no. 67670

looking down, 1988 | marker, crayon, colored pencil and conté crayon with collage on paper
20″ x 14″ (50.8 cm x 35.6 cm) | no. 37015

bedroom sphinx, 1987 | oil pastel, pencil, and wash on paper
56-1/2 x 45-1/2″ | no. 18798

swiss still life, 1988 | watercolor, marker, ink, colored pencil, and collaged pentimenti on paper
17-7/8″ x 23-7/8″ (45.4 cm x 60.6 cm) | no. 48279

sphinx II, 1966 | crayon, graphite, colored pencil, and pen and ink on cut brown kraft paper mounted to strathmore
30″ x 40″ (76.2 cm x 101.6 cm) | no. 59027

untitled, 1981 | ink over graphite and colored pencil on paper
15-1/2″ x 23″ (39.4 cm x 58.4 cm) | no. 58880

[“now!”], c. 1960-1965 | watercolor, pen and ink, graphite and colored pencil on paper
20″ × 15-1/4″ (50.8 cm × 38.7 cm) | no. 67666

untitled, c. 1950 | gelatin silver print | image, 10 1/8 x 8 1/8 inches | paper, 14 x 11 inches
(35.6 x 27.9 cm) no. 31510

untitled, june 12, 1950 gelatin silver print | image, 4 5/8 x 3 3/4 inches paper, 5 x 4 inches
(10.5 cm x 12.4 cm) | no. 31463

exhibition info:

title: imagined interiors
artist: saul steinberg
gallery: PACE GALLERY
dates: march 23 – april 6, 2020
location: online viewing room

edited by nina azzarello

we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more digital exhibition tours here, and project submissions from designboom readers here.