Self-Portrait in Profile c. 1986s

Editor: This is Saul Steinberg’s "Self-Portrait in Profile" from around 1966, rendered in pen and ink on paper. I find the caricature both unsettling and amusing – the exaggerated features are quite striking. What catches your eye in this piece? Curator: Immediately, I'm drawn to the interplay between line and form. The stark black lines against the blank paper create a visual tension, don't you agree? The geometric eye is also noteworthy. Consider how that single shape dominates the composition, disrupting the flow of the organic lines defining the rest of the face. Editor: I do see that. The eye feels so out of place with the other features, almost alien. Curator: Precisely! And the treatment of negative space further emphasizes this dissonance. The lack of shading forces us to interpret the form based purely on the artist’s line. It becomes an exercise in deconstruction, inviting us to analyze what elements truly define a portrait. Is it simply the accurate depiction of features, or something more? Editor: So, it’s more about the *idea* of a self-portrait than a realistic representation? Curator: Indeed. The abstraction allows us to move beyond surface appearances and consider the very nature of identity. What do you make of the way he has represented his hair? Editor: It’s interesting; there are clear, intentional lines, but nothing to represent colour or texture. I never would have thought about an absence of colour being an aesthetic statement. Curator: That is what Formalist analysis often illuminates. Steinberg offers us not just a likeness but an exploration of artistic language. I'm leaving with much to consider about portraiture itself. Editor: Agreed! I now have a deeper appreciation of the nuances present even in seemingly simple line drawings.