Tag: David Remnick

Special Screening Of Stevenson Lost And Found For New Yorker Cartoonists; Meet The Artist (1943): Mischa Richter; David Remnick On Ross And Shawn

News

Special Screening Of Stevenson Lost And Found For New Yorker Cartoonists

The Spill has learned there’ll be a special screening for all New Yorker cartoonists next Tuesday of the documentary film, Stevenson Lost And Found. I asked the film’s director, Sally Williams to explain how this came about:

The idea for this screening came about from Nathan Fitch who is making the George Booth documentary.  We met up prior to our STEVENSON – LOST AND FOUND world premiere to compare notes and see how we could help each other out.  I think I found the idea of a New Yorker Cartoonist screening appealing because it creates a space for a different dialogue around the film.  There will be aspects that cartoonists recognize and connect with that others do not, I thought it would be interesting and valuable to have that insight from the current pool of New Yorker cartoonists.  As filmmakers, artists, illustrators it can be a bit of a sequestered road at times – so any excuse to interrupt that and bring people together is worth it I think.

(If you are a New Yorker cartoonist and want further info on the showing, please contact me).

__________________________________________________________________________________

Meet The Artist : Mischa Richter

This is the second in a series of New Yorker artist’s self portraits included in the 1943 catalog, Meet The Artist

Here’s Mr. Richter’s entry on the Spill‘s A-Z:

Mischa Richter (photo courtesy of Sarah Geraghty Herndon). Born, Kharkov, Russia, 1910. Died, March 23, 2001. New Yorker work: January 10, 1942 – January 20, 2003 ; Key books: This One’s On Me! (McGraw-Hill, 1945) , The Cartoonist’s Muse, co-authored by Harald Bakken (Contemporary Books, 1992). )

 

________________________________________________________________________

David Remnick On Harold Ross And William Shawn

If you, like me, never got around to picking up a copy of The New Yorker‘s 2016  anthology The 50s: The Story Of A Decade (Random House), you probably missed New Yorker editor David Remnick’s Introduction.  Lithub has the intro here.

Here’s a sample, with Mr. Remnick talking about the Shawn style of editing the magazine vs Ross’s.

“…Shawn assumed for himself far more authority than Ross, who was prepared to delegate a greater amount to his various deputies, or “Jesuses.” Shawn was also quiet, subtle, secretive, elliptical, and, to some, quite strange. He was a variety of genius who enjoyed funny writing as well as serious fiction, supported completely the individual artists and writers on a profoundly variegated staff, and expressed his myriad curiosities about the world by sending writers out to explore its many corners.” 

 

New Yorker Cartoons On The Empire State Building’s Walls; Jimmy Kimmel’s Cartoon Rejected By The New Yorker; Today’s Daily Cartoonist & Cartoon

News

New Yorker Cartoons On The Empire State Building Walls

The iconic Empire State Building now boasts half-a-dozen New Yorker cartoons on its walls.  One each by Robert Leighton, Liana Finck, John O’Brien, Tom Cheney, Jason Patterson,  and Frank Modell.

Through the courtesy of Mr. Leighton (who is shown below, at The Empire State Building, with his drawing*) the Spill shows you three of the six cartoons in situ, and tell you a little about their installation and how their installation came to be.

Left: Frank Modell’s drawing, published in The New Yorker, 1975

Mr. Leighton has shared the information he received when the project was first proposed to him:

“As part of ongoing upgrades to the Empire State Building Observatory experience, we’re looking into the idea of installing certain New Yorker cartoons in the stairwells between the 80th floor and the 86th floor.

When visitors come to the Observatory of the Empire State Building, they take the elevator to the 80th floor and transfer to another set of elevators to arrive at the 86th floor open-air Observatory deck. Guests have the option to take the stairs between 80 and 86 instead of the elevator to avoid the lines. We’d like to reward the stair-takers with a whimsical display of New Yorker cartoons in the stairwells. The cartoons would all be thematically appropriate – either relating to the Empire State Building/high rise construction, general unique New York moments or stairs. We think this will be a great “hidden New York” feature that will help guests feel like insiders.”

Asked how the drawings were applied to the walls Mr. Leighton was told:

The design firm, Thinc, used a company called Applied Image. Thinc prepared the graphic image including the title block. They printed the image on a durable, graffiti-resistant, wide format wall vinyl. The vinyl extends to the edges of the available space to avoid picked edges. Then they apply it with adhesive.Here are the official specs: Printed and installed by Applied Image.   Production Method: 3M Envision Print Wrap Film with Avery Anti-Graffiti overlaminate. Anti-Graffiti protects image from scratches, chemicals, solvents or graffiti paint.

—  Above: John O’Brien’s drawing on the wall. Published in The New Yorker 2018.

I asked Mr. Leighton what it meant to him having his drawing chosen:

“When we’re thinking up our cartoons, the most we imagine is that they’ll be printed, saving them from a lifetime of obscurity. For those that see print, our hope is that they’ll be re-printed somewhere, maybe becoming part of a book. To be reprinted like this–becoming a permanent part of the iconic skyscraper of all time–is just a pure undiluted thrill.”

*Mr. Leighton’s drawing, published in The New Yorker February 4, 2013, carried the caption “Escher! Get your ass up here!”  The caption, edited by Mr. Leighton, appearing in the Empire State Building: “Escher! Get back up here!”

_____________________________________________________________

Jimmy Kimmel’s Cartoon Rejected By The New Yorker

Here’s a fun segment from last night’s Jimmy Kimmel program. It features The New Yorker‘s cartoon editor, Emma Allen, in magazine’s offices, as well as on stage in Brooklyn with The New Yorker‘s editor, David Remnick.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Today’s Daily Cartoonist & Cartoon

NYC Basketball by Johnny DiNapoli, who began contributing to The New Yorker in 2019. Visit his website here.

 

“Live” New Yorker Cartoons On Late Night With Seth Meyers And David Remnick; A Saxon In Stockbridge; Mon., Tues. Wed.’s Daily Cartoonists & Cartoons

News

“Live” New Yorker Cartoons On Late Night With Seth Meyers & David Remnick

The New Yorker‘s editor, David Remnick joins Seth Meyers for the 8th installment of “Live New Yorker Cartoons.” Cartoons by: Ben Schwartz, John McNamee, Maddie Dai, Ed Steed, and Drew Panckeri.  Watch here.

 

_____________________________________________________

A Saxon In Stockbridge

If you happen into The Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, Massachusetts as I did this afternoon, you’ll find an original Charles Saxon drawing hanging on a hallway wall just off the Inn’s pub. According to The New Yorker database it doesn’t appear to have been in the magazine. No matter — it’s a lovely drawing (what Saxon drawing isn’t?).  –photo by Bruce Crocker

Mr. Saxon’s entry on The Spill‘s A-Z:

Charles Saxon (self portrait above left from Best Cartoons of the Year 1947) Born in Brooklyn, Nov 13, 1920, died in Stamford, Conn., Dec 6, 1988. New Yorker work: 1943 – 1991 (2 drawings published posthumously). Key collection: One Man’s Fancy ( Dodd, Mead, 1977).

_________________________________________________-

Catching Up With The Daily Cartoon Cartoonists & Daily Shouts Cartoonists

Today’s Daily is by Teresa Burns Parkhurst, yesterday’s Daily was by David Sipress, and Monday’s was by J.A.K..

Today’s Daily Shouts...“What Your Followers Were Really Saying When They Liked Your Post” by Tom Chitty and Irving Ruan. Monday’s was by Emily Flake.

The Wednesday Watch: A New York Times Pauline Kael 100th Birthday Graphic Tribute; The Spectator’s Cartoon Editor On Political Cartoons (And Selling An Idea To The New Yorker 61 Years Ago); More Weirdo; Today’s Daily Cartoonist: Farley Katz

News

________________________

A New York Times Pauline Kael 100th Birthday Graphic Tribute

From The New York Times, June 19, 2019, “Happy Birthday, Pauline Kael, My Old Foe”  — this graphic piece by Nathan Gelgud.

Ms. Kael began writing for The New Yorker in 1967. She retired in 1991.

Additional birthday reading: “The Electrifying Critical Mind Of Pauline Kael” by David Remnick.

_____________________________

The Spectator’s Cartoon Editor On The Death Of Political Cartoons

Michael Heath on the recent New York Times decision …and a few New Yorker tidbits tossed in as well.  

________________________

More Weirdo

 

A piece of interest from The Comics Journal, June 19, 2019, by Bill Kartalopoulos: “Getting Weirdo At The Society Of illustrators” (various New Yorker contributors mentioned).

 

_____________________

Today’s Daily Cartoonist/Cartoon

On the beach with Farley Katz, who has been contributing to The New Yorker since 2007.

 

 

Who, Darrow?

News

Lately, while rummaging around through my own New Yorker history, I’ve spent a lot of time re-reading what other contributors had to say about the transitional period of Shawn to Gottlieb to Brown to Remnick. There were a number of books,  all published in the late 1990s, early 2000s: Renata Adler’s Gone, Lillian Ross’s Here But Not Here, Ved Mehta’s Remembering Mr. Shawn, John Seabrook’s Nobrow, E.J. Kahn’s Year Of Change. It was the E.J. Kahn book that got me looking over the rest of the Kahn books here at Spill headquarters. 

I ended up going much further away from the late 1990s, back to The Harold Ross years, to 1949, when Who, Me? was published (it’s a collection of Mr, Kahn’s New Yorker pieces).  Either I knew who the cover artist was whenever I bought the book, and forgot — or I never knew.  Either way, it was a pleasant surprise seeing the signature “Darrow” way down at the bottom. At first, I wasn’t positive it was Whitney Darrow, Jr. , the New Yorker artist — the signature was very close, but not exactly as he signed his work at the time.

The inside flap confirmed it: 

Jacket Design by Whitney Darrow, Jr.

 

Here’s what the inside cover looks like:

All very un-Darrow like. Here’s what Mr. Darrow’s New Yorker work looked like the year Who, Me? was published.  The drawing below appeared in the issue of July 2, 1949.

Note:  Mr. Kahn began contributing to The New Yorker in 1932. Mr. Darrow in 1933.  Below is Mr. Darrow’s entry on the Spill‘s A-Z:

Whitney Darrow, Jr. (photo above) Born August 22, 1909, Princeton, NJ. Died August, 1999, Burlington, Vermont. New Yorker work: 1933 -1982. Quote (Darrow writing of himself in the third person): …in 1931 he moved to New York City, undecided between law school and doing cartoons as a profession. The fact that the [New Yorker’s] magazine offices were only a few blocks away decided him…” (Quote from catalogue, Meet the Artist, 1943)