The Monday Tilley Watch takes a glancing look at the art and artists of the latest issue of The New Yorker
The Cover: a market
The Cartoonists And Cartoons:
Fifteen cartoons (not including the caption cartoons), eighteen cartoonists (Jared Nangle is this week’s “Spot” artist, and Emily Flake has a “Sketchpad”). One duo, that we know of (the Spill usually counts duos as one cartoonist, but this week the duo is comprised of two New Yorker cartoonists — not totally unusual, but not the usual cartoonist + non-cartoonist writer duo effort).
The longest active cartoonist contributor in this issue is Mick Stevens, whose first New Yorker drawing was published in December of 1979.
Mr. Steven’s A-Z entry:
Mick Stevens Born March 11, 1942, Portland, Oregon. New Yorker work: December 17, 1979–. Key collections: If Ducks Carried Guns (Fireside/Simon & Schuster, 1988), A Mystery, Wrapped in an Enigma, Served on a Bed of Lettuce ( Fireside/Simon & Schuster, 1989 ), Things Not to Do Today (Fireside/Simon & Schuster, 1989). Website: mickstevens.com
One newbie this week: Nguyen Khöi Nguyén, who is the 12th addition to the magazine’s stadium this year, and the 138th cartoonist brought into The New Yorker since May of 2017, when Emma Allen took the cartoon editor reins.
See this week’s cartoons here.
The Caption Contest Cartoonists: Tom Toro, Juan Astasio, Will McPhail.
See the Caption Contest cartoons here.
The Rea Irvin Talk Watch:
Back in May of 2017, the late great Rea Irvin’s 92 year old Talk Of The Town design was boxed-up, put off to the side, and replaced by — gasp! — a redrawn version courtesy of a contemporary illustrator. The Spill has been in a tizzy ever since, hoping that Mr. Irvin’s classic will be returned. 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.