The Americans (1958) by Saul Steinberg (1914-1999) is a wall fresco in eight parts, measuring over 70 metres in length, inspired by the ‘American way of life’. #TheAmericans #SaulSteinberg #Brussels #Expo58 #FineArtsBelgium #RMFAB #MRBAB #KMSKB
PixelfedPatrick Vanhoucke (@librarianbe@pixelfed.social)The Americans by Saul Steinberg.
Saul Steinberg (1914-1999) was an American artist born in Romania. For more than 60 years, he created drawings and covers for The New Yorker magazine. In 1958, he was commissioned by the American government to create a work of art for the American pavilion at the World‘s Fair in Brussels (Expo 58). A futuristic circular building on the Heysel Plateau (in Laeken, in the north-west of the City of Brussels), which we still know today as the American Theatre (‘Amerikaans Theater’ in Dutch, because it was used for a long time for the studios of the Flemish public radio and television broadcaster, now VRT).
‘The Americans’ is a wall fresco in eight parts, measuring over 70 metres in length, inspired by the ‘American way of life’.
In the spring of 2025, three of the eight panels were used as a backdrop for a press presentation by the Belgian luxury leather goods store Maison Delvaux. Maison Delvaux also supported the restoration of these three panels, as well as the five others, so that the work can be preserved and rediscovered in all its glory.
The giant work was rarely shown because of its volume and fragility. But now, three panels of Saul Steinberg’s work are on display until 19 October 2025 on the first floor of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in a temporary exhibition space (admission included in a ticket to the permanent exhibition).
(1) Signage in the museum directing visitors to the section where Saul Steinberg’s three panels of ‘The Americans’ are on display.
(2) Detail from the panel ‘Main Street - Small Town’. Acquired in 1958. Inv. 7408.
(3) Detail from the panel ‘Downtown - Big City’. Acquired in 1958. Inv. 7409.
(4) Detail from the panel ‘Cocktail Party’. Acquired in 1958. Inv. 7413.
#TheAmericans #SaulSteinberg #Brussels #Expo58 #FineArtsBelgium #RMFAB #MRBAB #KMSKB
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