| Sam Steinberg | |
|---|---|
Album cover painting for Friends by Marc Copland, Oblivion Records, 1973 |
|
| Born | 1897 The Bronx, New York |
| Died | Buried April 1982 New York |
| Nationality | American |
| Field | Painting |
| Training | Self taught |
| Movement | art brut, outsider art |
Sam Steinberg (1897-1982[1]) was an American outsider art painter from The Bronx, New York, called the "unofficial artist-in-residence" at Columbia University[2] by Peter Frank (art critic). His work was "shown" (and sold) exclusively on the Columbia campus, and his style was one of the first identified as "outsider," an approach coined by art critic Roger Cardinal circa 1972,[3] after Jean Dubuffet's art brut.[4]
Suffering from a debilitating hairlessness disease, atrichia with papular lesions, Steinberg was classified 4F in both world wars. In the late 1930s, he and his mother started visiting Columbia daily to sell chocolate bars.
Signed with his distinctive cursive signature, "Sam S.," Steinberg spontaneously began showing and selling original paintings in 1967. He purchased illustration boards and paints from local stationery stores; eventually shifting to permanent magic marker pens. His subjects ranged from animals to popular culture figures like Santa Claus and Elvis Presley, but Steinberg's favorite muses were most certainly his interpretations of cats and "boids." After riding three New York City subway to arrive at Columbia, he was usually carrying three or fresh paintings (often as many as 20 per week), which, during the 1970s sold for $2.50 (rising to $3.50 by 1980).[5] A campus art institution, it was a rare Columbia College dormitory room that didn't have at least one "Sam" hanging up. His one known example of a commercial use of his paintings[6] was in 1973, for a jazz fusion album recorded by a former Columbia student, Marc Copland on a label, Oblivion Records co-founded by another, Fred Seibert.
Through his last decades, Steinberg shared an apartment[7] and his art[8] with his younger sister, colorist Pauline Steinberg.