The Monday Tilley Watch takes a glancing look at the art and artists of the latest issue of The New Yorker
The Cover Watch:
This week’s cover (on the left) brought to mind one of Edward Gorey‘s (two) New Yorker covers:
The Cartoonists and Cartoons
A dozen cartoons, and a dozen cartoonists. One duo that we know of (the Spill considers duos as one cartoonist). No newbies. The longest active contributing cartoonist in the issue is Roz Chast, whose first New Yorker drawing appeared in the issue of July 3, 1978.
This week’s cartoons (in a slideshow)
The Cartoon Caption Contest (Jerald Lewis provides this week’s contest drawing).
The Rea Irvin Talk Watch:
Don’t bother looking for the above Rea Irvin perfect Talk design in The New Yorker. It hasn’t been there since May of 2017 when it was — unbelievably! — yanked (after appearing 92 years) and replaced by a redrawn version executed by a contemporary illustrator. The Spill hopes that one day Mr. Irvin’s work returns. Read more here.
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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): 179. Number of cartoons contributed: 261.