The cover above has always been a favorite. The first time I came across it I thought I’d stumbled upon a printing error. But no, it’s yet another gift from Rea Irvin, cover artist, designer (as in his designs for the magazine’s masthead, as well as his adapted development of the typeface), cartoonist, “art supervisor” (his unofficial or official designation
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50 Years Ago This Week: Peter Arno’s Last New Yorker Cartoon
Every so often the Spill likes to take a look at the last cartoon published by one of the magazine’s artists. This week it’s a drawing by Peter Arno — the cartoonist the New Yorker‘s Roger Angell called “the magazine’s first genius.” I won’t go on and on here about why Arno is one of the magazine’s greatest — some
Read moreCartoons Holding “A Mirror Up to the War Effort”: The New Yorker War Album… & More
The New Yorker War Album, published in 1942, was the very first themed Album of the magazine’s cartoons. Peter Arno’s cover from the issue of February 28, 1942 was selected as the cover. As so often the case for the Album series an Arno drawing led off the collection (“Of course if they don’t bomb Sutton Place, I’m going to
Read moreThe “Brightest and Most Malicious Drawings”: The Third New Yorker Album
An appropriate cover this New Year’s Eve as we trudge into 2018. By the time the Third New Yorker Album hit the shelves in 1930, the party that was the roaring twenties was over. What you see in the book are drawings from the tail end of the roar: night clubs, good times, frivolity…you know, like that. The cover, by
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