The Monday Tilley Watch takes a glancing look at the art and artists of the latest issue of The New Yorker
The Cover: lotsa cats and a lady
The Cartoonists and Cartoons:
Fourteen cartoons, fourteen cartoonists. No newbies. No duo (that we know of). The longest active contributor in the issue is Roz Chast, whose first New Yorker drawing was published in July of 1978. Runner-up from the 1970s is Mick Stevens, whose first New Yorker drawing appeared at the tail end of the 1970s: the issue of December 17, 1979.
The Cartoon Caption Contest Cartoonist: Suerynn Lee
The Rea Irvin Talk Watch:
Back in the Spring of 2017, the above perfection by Rea Irvin was ixnayed from The New Yorker and replaced by — no joke! — a modern drawing by a contemporary illustrator who used Mr. Irvin’s design as a blueprint. The Spill has been dismayed ever since, but remains hopeful Mr. Irvin’s design, as drawn by him, will one day return. Read more.
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.