Saul Steinberg - The "View of the World" cover

Graphic artist, born in Ramnicul-Sarat, EC Romania. He studied in Bucharest and Italy, then began to submit drawings to American periodicals, notably the New Yorker. He left Italy for the Dominican Republic in 1941, and from there moved to New York City. He served in the US Navy during World War 2, then returned to New York and became an influential observer and satirist of modern culture, as seen in ‘Manassas, Virginia: Main Street’ (1978). His publications include The Passport (1954) and The New World (1965).

Saul Steinberg (June 15, 1914–May 12, 1999) was a Romanian-American cartoonist and illustrator, best known for his work for The New Yorker magazine.

The "View of the World" cover

Steinberg did 85 covers and 642 drawings for The New Yorker. His most famous work is probably its March 29, 1976 cover, an illustration titled "View of the World from 9th Avenue," sometimes referred to as "A Parochial New Yorker's View of the World" or "A New Yorker's View of the World," which depicts a map of the world as seen by self-absorbed New Yorkers.

The illustration is split in two, with the bottom half of the image showing Manhattan's 9th Avenue, 10th Avenue, and the Hudson River (appropriately labeled), and the top half depicting the rest of the world. The rest of the United States is the size of the three New York City blocks and is drawn as a square, with a thin brown strip along the Hudson representing "Jersey", the names of five cities (Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Las Vegas, Kansas City, and Chicago) and three states (Texas, Utah, and Nebraska) scattered among a few rocks for the U.S. beyond New Jersey.

Cultural legacy

The illustration—humorously depicting New Yorkers' self-image of their place in the world, or perhaps outsiders' view of New Yorkers' self-image—inspired many similar works, including the poster for the 1984 film Moscow on the Hudson;