The Monday Tilley Watch takes a glancing look at the art and artists of the latest issue of The New Yorker
The Cartoonists and Cartoons
Seventeen cartoons, nineteen cartoonists (Barry Blitt has the cover, and there’s a “Sketchbook” by the late very great Jack Ziegler). No duos, that we know of. One newbie: Debora Szpilman, the first new addition to the magazine’s cartoon colosseum in this new year and the 181st cartoonist brought in since Emma Allen took the cartoon editor reins in 2017. The longest active contributing cartoonist in the issue is this cartoonist (I began contributing to The New Yorker in 1977).
Yoy can see this week’s cartoons here (in a slideshow).
What a delight to see the full page “Reflections” by Jack Ziegler. Mr. Ziegler, as noted in the Contributors credits, contributed to The New Yorker from 1974 until he passed away in 2017. You can see the 2016 Ink Spill interview with him here (Pt.1) and here (Pt.2).
The Cartoon Caption Contest
This week’s contest (the contest drawing is supplied by Tommy Siegel).
The Rea Irvin Talk Watch
The above perfect Rea Irvin Talk heading stood up exceptionally well for 92 years. Thus it was quite a surprise (and that’s really putting it mildly) when it was replaced in May of 2017 by a redrawn version by a contemporary illustrator. That 2017 redraw has itself been replaced during the magazine’s centenary year. It occurred to me that next month, when the magazine publishes the next anniversary issue, it would be the perfect time to bring back Mr. Irvin’s work. 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): 179. Number of cartoons contributed: 261.