“The Unembarrassed Mind,” Vogue Magazine

Saul Steinberg’s drawings became familiar to the American public through their frequent appearances in the pages of magazines like The New Yorker, Fortune, Harper’s Bazaar, and Vogue. In this example from an April 1950 issue of Vogue, Steinberg’s drawing accompanies an article titled “The Unembarrassed Mind,” which encouraged women to find a balance between remaining open to new ideas and being overly impressionable or indecisive. Steinberg’s drawing is described in a caption as an illustration of a woman “in the process of changing” her mind. She is seated on a tasseled stool, painting an illustrated medallion on the back support of an Eames molded plywood chair. The medallion consists of what the magazine’s caption describes as “the pyramids by moonlight” surrounded by a “Victorian wreath,” and its ornamental quality clashes with the simplicity of the Eames chair—evidently, she has changed her mind about her preference for modern over traditional furniture. Steinberg drew Eames furniture on many occasions, often depicting their chairs alongside contrasting historical styles. In doing so, Steinberg’s drawings of Eames chairs provide commentary on the tension that emerged in postwar society as consumer taste was divided between those who embraced modernism and those who eschewed it in favor of the traditional.