Now That’s A Cover!
Leave it to Rea Irvin to create the magazine’s first two-way cover. Of his 179 covers this is one of the most unusual (not counting his very first, of course — you know: the magazine’s debut issue featuring the fellow we later came to know as Eustace Tilley).
It’s worth remembering that Irvin, along with his New Yorker cartoonist colleagues — contributed most of the magazine’s covers for its first 67 years. Their artistry and their sense of fun suited and served the magazine well.
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Rea Irvin’s A-Z Entry:
Rea Irvin 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): 179. Number of cartoons contributed: 261.