Self-Portrait c. 1986s

Saul Steinberg made this self-portrait with ink on paper in a sketchbook—just one continuous black line mapping out his features. I love the way he's turned his face into a kind of architectural puzzle. Those glasses aren't just lenses; they're like windows onto a geometric world. I can imagine him sketching this quickly, maybe in a cafe, turning observation into this playful construction. What was he thinking as he reduced his own face to these essential, almost cartoonish lines? It reminds me of other artists who use line to explore identity, like David Hockney’s portraits, but with a distinctly Steinbergian twist. It's so simple, yet it captures something essential about how we see ourselves and each other, turning the mundane into the marvelous. The most basic materials can speak volumes when handled with such intelligence.