Peter Steiner’s “On The Internet, Nobody Knows You’re A Dog” Original Drawing To Be Auctioned
In The New Yorker‘s cartooniverse, no more than a handful of drawings have reached the level of recognition as Peter Steiner’s drawing shown above, first published in the magazine July 5, 1993. The drawing is the most reproduced New Yorker drawing in modern times. Steiner’s original drawing is now listed on the Heritage Auctions site, with an estimated gavel price of $40,000 – $60,000.
One colorful curiosity about Mr. Steiner’s original: Lee Lorenz, who was The New Yorker‘s cartoon editor during the period the Steiner drawing was bought and published, had asked cartoonists to submit their bought finished originals sans their hand written caption. If the original art was sold to an individual, the cartoonist would then hand write their caption below the drawing. In an email, Mr. Steiner mentioned that “the caption appears to have been lettered by Lee (using a brush and ink!) probably to avoid having to ship it to me and back again.”
Here’s how the drawing looked in the July 5th 1993 New Yorker:
The Spill spoke with Peter Steiner on the 20th anniversary of the drawing’s publication. Read it here.
Visit Peter Steiner’s website here.
Visit the Wikipedia page devoted to the drawing.
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The Monday Tilley Watch takes a glancing look at the art and artists of the latest issue of The New Yorker
The Cover: watermelon.
The Cartoonists And Cartoons:
Twelve cartoons, thirteen cartoonists (not including the Caption Contest cartoonists). Andy Friedman has a “Sketchpad.” No newbies. One duo, that we know of (the Spill considers duos as one cartoonist).
The longest active cartoonist in this issue is Mick Stevens, who has the latest Caption Contest cartoon. Mr. Stevens began contributing to the magazine in December of 1979.
See this week’s cartoons here.
The Caption Contest Cartoonists: Mick Stevens, Juan Astasio, Tom Toro.
See this week’s caption contest cartoon here.
The Rea Irvin Talk Watch:
Way back in 2017, the below Talk design by the late great Rea Irvin was ditched and replaced by…if you can believe it: a redrawn version of Mr. Irvin’s design. The Spill continues to hold out hope that Mr. Irvin’s work returns.
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.