How did Saul Steinberg use looping lines and visual paradoxes in his cartoons?

Saul Steinberg, a renowned cartoonist and illustrator, utilized a unique graphic style characterized by a "meandering willful line" that was influenced by the Swiss painter Paul Klee.1

In his work, Steinberg employed looping lines that frequently "doubled back on themselves and bit their own tails," creating a self-referential quality that often parodied the traditional "cartoon of situation". His use of visual paradoxes allowed him to blur the boundaries between the artist, the subject, and the medium. For example, he depicted hands in the act of drawing the very portraits of which they were a part.1

Furthermore, Steinberg used his intricate line work to create visual narratives where details would overwhelm or engulf the subject. This is evident in his depictions of a wicker chair entirely overtaken by its own curlicues, or his use of geometric motifs, such as a woman and her baby sharing lozenge-shaped faces, where the child’s face is a fraction of the mother’s. These techniques transformed simple drawings into complex, philosophical, and satirical commentaries.21