Item description for Henry Steig (1906-1973) sterling pins (2)

Henry Steig (1906-1973) sterling pins (2). Selling both one of a kind pins, both signed, one stamped, one by hand. Part of a significant collection of Henry Steig Jewelry purchased directly from him in the 50's-60's that I'm lucky enough to be able to offer. Largest 3" x 1 1/8", other 2" x 1.25"...Both seem to possibly represent human forms. 38.6 grams total. Jules Brenner and Henry Steig were among group of prominent of New York mid-century studio jewelers who hand-crafted pieces of wearable art that celebrated the avant-garde, rejected traditional jewelry forms, and appealed to an intellectual and liberal middle class. Jules Brenner was born in the Bronx, grew up in Washington Heights, and studied acting with Stella Adler and painting and sculpture in Greenwich Village. Henry Steig (also known as Henry Anton) studied at City College and the National Academy of Design, and began his career as a New York City jazz musician, writer, novelist, cartoonist, and painter. During the 1950s, both Brenner and Steig operated shops and studios in Manhattan and in Provincetown, Massachusetts—then a prominent artists’ enclave—where they sold hand-wrought silver and gold designs which often emphasized biomorphic, surrealist, cubist, and geometric forms. Everyone knows the famous picture from the film The Seven Year Itch, of Marilyn Monroe standing on a New York sidewalk, her skirt blown up by on updraft from the subway grate below. However, not everyone knows that at that moment she was standing in front of Henry Steig's jewelry shop at 590 Lexington Avenue. Henry Steig was a man of many talents. Before he became a jeweler, he was a jazz musician, painter, sculptor, commercial artist, cartoonist, photographer, short story writer and novelist. "Henry was a Renaissance man," says New Yorker cartoonist Mischa Richter, who was Steig's good friend and Provincetown neighbor. Henry Anion Steig was born on February 19, 1906, in New York City. His parents, Joseph and Laura, had come to America at the turn of the century, from Lvov (called Lemberg in German), which was then in the Polish port of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Joseph was a housepainter and Laura, a seamstress. They had four sons, Irwin, Henry, William and Arthur, all of them versatile, talented and artistic. William Steig is the well-known New Yorker cartoonist and author-illustrator of children's books. lrwin was a writer of short stories for the New Yorker. Arthur was a painter and poet whose poems were published in the New Republic and Poetry magazines. William Steig recalls, "My father and mother both began pointing and become exhibiting artists after their sons grew up." In the May 14, 1945, issue of Newsweek magazine, an article was published about an exhibition, "possibly the first one family show on Art Row (57th Street)" at the New Art Circle Gallery. It was called "The Eight Performing Steigs, Artists All." Included were paintings By Joseph and Laura Steig; drawings and sculpture by William and paintings by his wife, Liza; paintings by Arthur and his wife, Aurora; and photographs by Henry and paintings by his wife, Mimi. The only brother not included was Irwin, "the only non-conformist Steig," who was working at that time as advertising manager of a Connecticut soap manufacturer. In the article "the brothers attribute the family's abundance of good artists to the fact that we all like each other's work…get excited about it. Whenever anyone starts they get lots of encouragement. Joseph Steig adds, 'Painting is a contagious thing. If you lived in our environment, you would probably point.'" Henry Steig grew up in this extraordinary environment. The family lived in the Bronx. After graduating from high school, Henry Steig went to City College (CCNY). After three years he left to study painting and sculpture at the National Academy of Design. He was also an accomplished musician, playing saxophone, violin and classical guitar, and while he was in college, he began working as a jazz musician. From about 1922, when only sixteen years old, until 1932 he played reed instruments with local dance bands. After four years at the National Academy, Steig worked as a commercial artist and cartoonist. He signed his cartoons "Henry Anton" because his brother William was working as a cartoonist at the same time, for many of the same magazines. From about 1932 to 1936, Henry Anton cartoons appeared in Life, Judge, New Yorker and other magazines. Steig began a writing career in 1935 that lasted until about 1947. He became very successful and well known as a short story writer, with stories appearing regularly in Saturday Evening Post, New Yorker, Esquire, Colliers and others. They were often humorous tales about jazz and the jazz musicians who populated the world of music in the roaring twenties. Other stories were about his Bronx childhood. He also wrote nonfiction magazine pieces, including a New Yorker profile of Benny Goodmon and jazz criticism. Several of his nonfiction articles were illustrated by William Steig. In 1941 , Alfred A. Knopf published Henry Steig's novel, Send Me Down. The story, told with absolute realism, is about two brothers who become jazz musicians in the twenties. On the book jacket, Steig wrote, "Much of the material for Send Me Down was gathered during my years as a jazz musician playing with local jazz bands and with itinerant groups in vaudeville and on dance hall tour engagements. Although I was only second-rate as a musician, I know my subject from the inside, and I believe I was the first to write stories about jazz musicians, based on actual personal experience." His son, Michael, recalls that there was some interest in making a movie of the book. "My father told me that John Garfield wanted to play the lead character." Steig did go to Hollywood in 1941, under contract to write screenplays. He was going to work with Johnny Mercer, the songwriter. After the ing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, he returned to New York. "He undoubtedly would have returned anyway," says Michael Steig. "He was not happy with the contract his agent had negotiated for him." Mischa Richter odds, "Henry was very unimpressed with Hollywood."