The Monday Tilley Watch takes a glancing look at the art and artists of the latest issue of The New Yorker
The Cover: people walking on a sidewalk
The Cartoonists and Cartoons:
Twelve cartoons, thirteen cartoonists (Liana Finck has a Sketchpad). No duos, that we know of. No newbies. The longest active cartoonist contributor in the issue is Roz Chast, whose first New Yorker drawing appeared in July of 1978.
The Cartoon Caption Contest Cartoonists: Niall Maher, Liza Donnelly, Johnny DiNapoli
The Rea Irvin Talk Watch:
You won’t see the above Rea Irvin perfect Talk Of The Town design in this week’s New Yorker. It hasn’t been there since the Spring of 2017 when it was 86ed in favor of a redrawn version by a contemporary illustrator (hard to believe, I know…but true). The Spill continues to hold out hope that Mr. Irvin’s work will be returned. More reading.
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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.