Alan Dunn’s Honor Roll Cover
Alan Dunn might be best remembered for his signature densely styled charcoal and grease pencil drawings that appeared for nearly a half-century in the New Yorker, from 1926 through 1974. Or he might be remembered as the most prolific New Yorker artist with the most published cartoons until William Steig overtook him (Steig’s New Yorker career outlasted Dunn’s by twenty-four years). [James Stevenson can likely claim the title of most published cartoon contributor because of his additional non-cartoon contributions]. Some might remember Dunn was married to one of the magazine’s early star contributors, the great Mary Petty; they were the first married New Yorker cartoonist couple. But for me, when I think of Alan Dunn, I think of his New Yorker cover that originally appeared on the issue of August 11, 1945. In that same year it appeared on the cover of the above special collection, The New Yorker War Cartoons (not to be confused with The New Yorker War Album). I can think of no better cover to post on Memorial Day weekend.
–the above post has previously appeared on past Memorial Days
____________________________________________________________________________
The Monday Tilley Watch takes a glancing look at the art and artists of the latest issue of The New Yorker
The Cover: lines and dots and musical notes.
The Cartoonists And Cartoons:
Nineteen cartoons, nineteen cartoonists. One duo, that we know of (the Spill counts duos as one cartoonist). No newbies. The longest active cartoonist in this issue is P.C. Vey, who began contributing in 1993.
The Caption Contest Cartoonists: Dan Misdea, Pia Guerra and Ian Boothby, Mort Gerberg.
Rea Irvin’s Talk Design:
Sharp-eyed Spill readers will note the above change from “Rea Irvin’s Talk Watch” to “Rea Irvin’s Talk Design.” While I’m ever hopeful that Mr. Irvin’s perfect work will return to its proper place, I’m now leaning to believing that the current New Yorker Talk heading (a redraw of Mr. Irvin’s Talk design) does indeed reflect the magazine’s present graphic culture, with a plethora of photographs and illustrations, and the occasional replacement of the so-called Irvin typeface.
The Spill will honor Mr. Irvin by continuing to present his design here on Mondays, but will no longer be waiting, hoping, watching for its return to today’s New Yorker.
Rea Irvin (pictured above. Self portrait above from Meet the Artist) *Born, San Francisco, 1881; died in the Virgin Islands,1972. Irvin was the cover artist for the New Yorker’s first issue, February 21, 1925. He was the magazine’s first art and only art supervisor (some refer to him as its first art editor) holding the position from 1925 until 1939 when James Geraghty assumed the title of art editor. Irvin then became art director and remained in that position until William Shawn officially succeeded Harold Ross in early 1952. Irvin’s last original work for the magazine was the magazine’s cover of July 12, 1958. The February 21, 1925 Eustace Tilley cover had been reproduced every year on the magazine’s anniversary until 1994, when R. Crumb’s Tilley-inspired cover appeared. Tilley has since reappeared, with other artists substituting from time-to-time. Number of New Yorker covers (not including the repeat appearances of the first cover every anniversary up to 1991): 163. Number of cartoons contributed: 261.