La Scala di Ferro (The Iron Ladder) 1967

Curator: What strikes me immediately about Saul Steinberg's "La Scala di Ferro," created in 1967, is the delicate yet fragmented quality of its composition. There is such an intricate arrangement here. Editor: I see it, and I agree! Considering the time, Steinberg was definitely responding to a world of shifting geopolitical landscapes, reflecting a kind of Post-War uncertainty through these precarious geometric forms and the juxtaposition of textures and materials. Curator: Absolutely, the mixed media collage on paper grounds this modern abstract aesthetic. And it features these ordinary fragments of mundane reality like stamps and what seems to be a restaurant bill, transforming the everyday into subjects for reflection. Look closely, can you see the ghostly table framework faintly rendered in graphite? Editor: I do now! And how about the contrast of that ephemeral graphite sketch, which seems almost to retreat from the world, with the hard reality of that collage of actual paper objects, like that Sardinian restaurant bill dated '66? It pulls you into considering his reality in Italy! It certainly seems to pull focus on Steinberg's wider commentary about how societies are constructed by what we consume. Curator: Right. These items almost act like symbols in a visual puzzle. It is interesting to me that the real-world elements function as a comment on social ritual and commercial interactions while still maintaining the formal interplay of shapes. The real "iron ladder" could stand for progress, or the illusion of it perhaps? Editor: It is possible, or is it a staircase to nowhere? What I appreciate is that despite its seemingly chaotic arrangement of colour and shape, everything remains balanced and anchored by Steinberg's clear mastery of materials, the deliberate lightness and depth achieved here is just superb. Curator: Precisely. What could be taken as disjointed instead reveals layers of significance with continued looking. It urges me to consider the narratives embedded within these seemingly insignificant moments. Editor: I agree; the way Steinberg invites the viewer to actively decode the symbols is fantastic. This work certainly encapsulates much more than first meets the eye.