The Monday Tilley Watch takes a glancing look at the art and artists of the latest issue of The New Yorker
The Cover: Slap II
The Cartoonists And Cartoons:
Seventeen cartoons, eighteen cartoonists (Barry Blitt has the cover). Two duos, that we know of (the Spill counts duos as one cartoonist). There is one new duo partner: Henry Chapman. There are no newbie cartoonists. The longest active contributor in this issue is Roz Chast, who began contributing in the summer of 1978.
The Cartoon Caption Contest Cartoonists: Christopher Weyant, Liza Donnelly, Lonnie Millsap
This week’s cartoon caption contest.
The Rea Irvin Talk Watch:
Not too too many years ago, in the Spring of 2017, the above perfection by Rea Irvin was erased from its 92 year old perch and replaced by — gasp! — a contemporary illustrator’s redrawn version. The Spill continues to hope the real deal returns. Read more here.
Rea Irvin’s A-Z entry:
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.
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John Elmore (Finally) Added To The A-Z
Back in November of 2017, while writing here about The New Yorker’s Second Album of Drawings, I noted the drawing you see to the left as being by John Elmore. I also wrote that I had neglected to add Mr. Elmore to the A-Z, and would do so posthaste. Well, the first part of that was wrong, and the second part didn’t happen until today. The drawing to the left is not by John Elmore, it’s by Victor de Pauw, and, I forgot, back in 2017, to add Mr. Elmore’s name to the A-Z. The good news is that Mr. Elmore, and his ten cartoons contributed to The New Yorker, is now listed (and also that Mr. de Pauw is now correctly credited for his work. Whew.
Here’s the John Elmore drawing I ran across today that sparked this corrective behavior of mine. I saw it while breezing through the magazine’s fourth anniversary issue ((February 23, 1929):
And here’s Mr. de Pauw’s A-Z entry (I owe him for misattributing his work!):
Victor de Pauw (Photo: 1924) Born, Belgium, 1902. Died, 1971. New Yorker work: 1928 -1948. Photo from website: depauwfineart.com
Mr. Elmore remains nearly a complete mystery. All I know of him is that The New Yorker published ten of his drawings. Any other information would be greatly appreciated.
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