I have come at this research exercise from the point of view of using objects as a way of narrowing and constraining my focus when comparing these two artists.
Saul Steinberg
"Steinberg is a writer who happens to draw" - Mimi Poser [5]
One of the striking things I discovered about Steinberg's work was how much it had to say. His earlier seems quite fun, almost whimsical at times. It's during the earlier part of his career in the 1940s that we see a lot of his Photoworks [3] which fit the topic of using objects the most. In some of his work in the 1970s, he used objects in a different way: for his Drawing Table series, he actually whittled and painting copies of pens, brushes and other artistic tools that he used in his work.
For the Photoworks, the work seems to be a mixture of acute observation of objects and locations, mixed with purposeful placement. The artist's architectural training is evident in these earlier pieces, and he has a keen use of perspective that marries well with his use of black linework.
Although he is often most familiar for his line work, there is actually a lot of variation in his linework, let alone other media. He varies his weights and style depending, again, on what he is trying to say. His later work seems to have much more social commentary, mixing metaphor (he would often use crocodiles as a symbol of the bureaucracy and abuse of power that exists).
He also plays around a lot with the idea of identity. As an immigrant himself, he seems to be interested in the balance between identity and recognition. His paper bags series are often funny and colourful, but they are also masks, hiding the person underneath. I particularly liked his thumbprint passports as a powerfully simple representation of the uniqueness of our identities, but how they can blend with the anonymity of the crowd.
His style is simplistic and sometimes brutal, but what was inspiring to me was how his style adapts and develops. Whilst his use of linework he also used lots of other media including watercolour, oil, and crayon [6].
"He has the ability to appropriate a style depending on what he's doing in any given moment." - Jennifer Russell [5]
Christoph Niemann
In comparison to Steinberg, Niemann seems much firmly placed in the fun and whimsical camp where he uses objects. Neimann is a prolific illustrator in his own right, and not all of his work involves objects. He, like Steinberg, has completed covers for The New Yorker magazine, and some of those works are very different from those that you will find in his Abstract Sunday series [1].
"I guess for me styles are concepts." - Christoph Niemann [7]
I think a lot of people would be most familiar with his Abstract Sunday work. As part of this work, he uses a lot of ink and liquid watercolour, which allows his work to be more tonal than the early Steinberg work. They are almost all exclusively done as sketchbook work. I think this might make Niemann recognized for just this style, and I got the impression that he likes to challenge that perception in the wider body of his work [7].
The work I like the most are the photographic pieces where he draws people into photographic landscapes and situations [8]. They are fun and, for me, powerful. I particularly like the way that it seems like reportage of hidden giants, interacting with our work. This seems to be a modern allegory similar to how people used to explain natural landscapes and phenomena with stories of giants and gods.
These seem to be close to Steinberg's earlier work where they both use perspective to their advantage. The main difference is obviously in the technology available at the time. Steinberg was limited to real objects and spaces, so if he wanted to create a sense of scale it had to be constrained to the location, and he had to use the linework to add grandeur. Niemann uses digital tools to be able to paint right on top of a photograph, utilising the composition of the image to give the sense of scale and place.
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References
Niemann, C. (2019). Christoph Niemann (@abstractsunday) • Instagram photos and videos. [online] Instagram.com. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/abstractsunday/
Niemann, C. (2019). Sunday Sketches – Christoph Niemann. [online] Christophniemann.com. Available at: https://www.christophniemann.com/detail/sunday-sketches-2/
Steinberg, S. (2019). Photoworks - Saul Steinberg Foundation. [online] Saul Steinberg Foundation. Available at: http://saulsteinbergfoundation.org/essay/photoworks/
Steinberg, S. (2019). Drawing Table Reliefs - Saul Steinberg Foundation. [online] Saul Steinberg Foundation. Available at: http://saulsteinbergfoundation.org/essay/drawing-table-reliefs/
Poser, M. and Russell, J. (2015). Saul Steinberg, 1978. [online] THE SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM FOUNDATION. Available at: https://www.guggenheim.org/audio/track/saul-steinberg-1978
Nast, C. (2019). On Saul Steinberg’s Centennial, an Exhibition of His Work Opens at Pace/MacGill. [online] Vogue. Available at: https://www.vogue.com/article/saul-steinberg-centennial-at-pace-macgill
Bourton, L. (2019). Christoph Niemann in conversation. [online] Itsnicethat.com. Available at: https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/christoph-niemann-in-conversation-illustration-230919
Niemann, C. (2019). Photo drawings – Christoph Niemann. [online] Christophniemann.com. Available at: https://www.christophniemann.com/detail/photo-drawings/
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