The Monday Tilley Watch takes a glancing look at the art and artists of the latest issue of The New Yorker
The Cover: What, no Rocky Road?
The Cartoonists And Cartoons:
Fifteen cartoons, seventeen cartoonists (Roz Chast has the cover, and there’s an illustration by the late Saul Steinberg). No newbies (and no duos, that we know of). The longest active cartoonist contributor in this week’s issue is Ms. Chast, whose first New Yorker drawing appeared in July of 1978.
The Cartoon Caption Contest Cartoonist: Frank Cotham.
The Rea Irvin Talk Watch:
Change is good….sometimes. It’s good to know when it’s a good thing, and it’s good to know when it’s simply a thing to do, well, oh, just because. In the case of Rea Irvin’s iconic Talk Of The Town heading (shown above), change was not necessary. Back in May of 2017, when Mr. Irvin’s design was replaced by a redrawn version executed by a contemporary illustrator, it was seen as some sort of new beginning, as The New Yorker moved from midtown Manhattan to the southern end of the island. But what was new were the offices –now located in One World Trade Center –not the magazine itself. The Spill continues to hold out hope that the designery folks (or folk) who come up with changes realize that the magazine has never been tied in to a particular part of the isle of Manhattan; Mr. Irvin’s modest assortment of buildings reflected that.