n Saul Steinberg’s lithograph ‘Sam’s Art’, Abraham Lincoln, in stove-pipe hat, poses as the artist in front of his canvas. While his attention looks fixed on rendering the slightly wobbly pyramid with an eye, the Masonic motif from the back of the one dollar bill, the line from his brush has floated off the canvas to become a cubist-futurist cloud in the sky. The American Eagle looks on, perched on a civil war cannon. The absurdity is reinforced by the pseudo-calligraphy surrounding this tableau.
‘Sam’s Art’ is one of ten prints which make up the New York International Portfolio. Published in an edition of 250 by Tanglewood Press in 1966, this was a ground-breaking print portfolio which quickly became a model for printing practice and was especially influential in the marketing of prints. Originally acquired by Senator Gordon Lambert this portfolio, number 111 in the edition, was donated to IMMA in 1992.