Self-Portrait c. 1986s

Curator: What strikes me immediately is the feeling of playfulness, even absurdity, in this sketch. Editor: Indeed! We are looking at a work entitled “Self-Portrait” by Saul Steinberg, probably created around the 1980s. It's rendered with a simple pen, right on what appears to be a page torn from a spiral-bound notebook. Curator: A deconstructed head! It’s as if he’s saying, “Here, catch my essential self—in lines.” He saw himself as lines, almost geometric. There's something terribly endearing about that. And yet it gives an ironic feeling about representation and identity. What do you make of this self-construction? Editor: Right, the playful element belies the potential for deeper consideration of self-construction and performance of identity. Think of how social theorists conceptualize the self as an ongoing project, pieced together through interactions and societal expectations. Here, Steinberg dissects this process, literally deconstructing the face into basic forms and then putting it back in this strange self-portrait. The disjunction can be interpreted in many ways. Curator: Precisely! The '80s, after all, were about shattering certainties, weren't they? I bet the simplicity—the rawness even—is deceptive. It’s almost as if it resists fixed readings. Is it critical, celebratory, a bit melancholy? Hard to tell. Editor: Melancholy definitely resonates. We can’t ignore the role of parody or irony here; perhaps he's offering commentary on how we construct identities based on external appearances. Look at the eyes, for instance – these perfectly enclosed geometric forms stare at you! Are they watching? What are they seeing? Curator: It reminds us that the act of representing oneself is inherently artificial, isn’t it? What a genius little doodle. It almost makes you wonder what identity truly means if it can be reduced to such simple—and humorous—elements. Editor: Absolutely, Saul Steinberg is giving us much more than just a portrait: he is giving a powerful statement about image construction and representation, which transcends beyond that page on the notebook. Curator: Thank you for opening my eyes wider on Steinberg. Editor: The pleasure was all mine.