The Monday Tilley Watch takes a glancing look at the art and artists of the latest issue of The New Yorker
The Cover: A gem from the ever-active pen of the fab John Cuneo.
The Cartoonists & Cartoons:
Thirteen cartoons, sixteen cartoonists. John Cuneo has the cover, Roz Chast has a “Sketchbook,” and Liza Donnelly has the Caption Contest drawing. The Spill counts duos as one cartoonist: there is one duo in this issue…that we know of. There are no newbies in the issue. The longest active contributor this week is Ms. Chast, whose first New Yorker drawing appeared in July of 1978.
The Rea Irvin Talk Watch: 
Rea Irvin, The New Yorker‘s first (and as of now the only) “Art Supervisor” helped shape the graphic look of The New Yorker. Irvin, according to James Thurber, “…did more to develop the style ands excellence of New Yorker drawings and covers than anyone else…”
Consider his adaptation (with permission) of Allen Lewis‘s typeface (shown left in Charles Brooks’s 1915, Journeys To Bagdad — the pamphlet that caught Irvin’s attention) — an adaptation so successful it became known as the “Irvin Typeface.” Or his cover art (featuring the not yet named, New Yorker‘s mascot, Eustace Tilley) for the magazine’s first issue, and his nearly 170 covers after that.
With all of that, it came as a surprise, and a bit of a shock when Irvin’s perfect Talk graphic (shown above) was replaced by a redraw (by another artist) in May of 2017. The Spill continues to hope that someone at the magazine reconsiders, and returns the real deal to its rightful place.