The Monday Tilley Watch takes a glancing look at the art and artists of the latest issue of The New Yorker
The Cover
The December 1st, 2025 issue is the fourth (and last) of the magazine’s special centenary issues. It’s good to see Rea Irvin’s classic Eustace Tilley cover has been brought back to wrap up the festivities (a tribute cover also appears).
The Cartoonists and Cartoons
Twenty cartoons, twenty cartoonists. Two duos, that we know of (the Spill considers duos as one cartoonist). No newbies. The longest active contributor in the issue is this cartoonist (I began contributing in 1977).
This week’s cartoons (in a slideshow)
The Cartoon Caption Contest (Hilary Campbell provides this week’s contest drawing).
The Rea Irvin Talk Watch
In May of 2017, Rea Irvin’s perfect Talk design (above) was yanked (after 92 years) and replaced — if you can believe it! — with a redrawn version by a contemporary illustrator. The Spill continues to hope Mr. Irvin’s work returns. 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): 179. Number of cartoons contributed: 261.
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