Tag: Jack Ziegler

The Monday Tilley Watch, The New Yorker Issue Of July 6, 2020; A Spill Cartoonist List: Fun At First Sight

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The Cover Artist: Kadir Nelson returns just two weeks after his stunning cover of June 22nd.

The Cartoonists:

The Cartoons:

A double issue with eighteen cartoons by eighteen cartoonists (with two duo efforts: Bliss & Martin, Guerra & Boothby). There’s also a Sketchpad drawing from J.A.K., and a newbie in the midst: Patrick McKelvie. Mr. McKelvie is the tenth new cartoonist to join The New Yorker’s stable this year and the sixty-third brought in by cartoon editor Emma Allen since she was appointed in the Spring of 2017.

Here are some of the cartoons in this week’s issue that caught my eye: a classic  lighthouse light bulb drawing by great Sam Gross, and then perhaps my favorite Ellis Rosen drawing ever (so far!) — his cave people drawing (much like Mr. Gross’s lighthouse drawing) proves that there is plenty of humor to unearth in these favorite cartoon scenarios. Liana Finck’s tent basement is terrif, as is Amy Hwang’s great ice cream on the beach scene. Enjoyed Roz Chast’s six-squares (the way she uses language here reminds me of Bizarro Superman).  Lars Kenseth’s superhero is so much fun. Repeating myself here, but Mr. Kenseth’s drawings never fail to amuse me upon first sighting — I’m sold before I get to the caption.

Fun At First Sight:

Thinking of that kind of reaction has caused me to think about (and mention) some other New Yorker cartoonists whose styles alone have won me over at first glance. I’m going to list only those who’ve passed into the great beyond so as not to offend anyone still around who I might inadvertently forget to mention.

Each of the following had a “theirs alone” style unlike any other being published in the magazine. That’s a wonderful thing, and difficult to do in a crowded cartoonist universe; each brought something else to the drawing paper as well — sometimes easily defined (see Dean Vietor’s work, for example: I’ve mentioned his thrilling wild energetic drawings before on the Spill), and sometimes not.

So here, in alphabetical order are some (not all!) of those fun at first sight New Yorker artists …Addams, Arno (Peter & Ed), Charles Barsotti, Whitney Darrow, Chon Day, Alan Dunn, Dana Fradon, Helen Hokinson, Nurit Karlin, Anatol Kovarsky, Robert Kraus, Frank Modell, Mary Petty, Price (George & Garrett), Gardner Rea, Donald Reilly, Carl Rose, Al Ross, Charles Saxon, Bernie Schoenbaum, Barbara Shermund, Otto Soglow, Steig, Steinberg, James Stevenson, Richard Taylor, Thurber, Dean Vietor, Robert Weber, Gluyas Williams, Gahan Wilson, and Jack Ziegler.

The Rea Irvin Talk Masthead Watch:

Would love to report that Rea Irvin’s iconic design had returned (it’s been collecting dust since it was replaced by a redraw(!) in the Spring of 2017). But such is not the case. Bah, humbug.

Read about it here.

Here’s what we’re missing:

 

 

 

The Monday Tilley Watch: The New Yorker (Double Issue) June 8 & 15, 2020

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The fiction issue, and it’s a double. The next Monday Tilley Watch won’t be posted til the 15th, which seems like a long way away at the moment.  As has been the case since the magazine became a work-at-home situation, the digital issue is not yet posted (writing this noonish). I’ll use the slideshow found here (you’ll have to scroll down a-ways) to do a brief run through of some of the latest cartoons.

The Cover (above right): Read the short Q&A here with cover artist Richard McGuire.

The Cartoonists: Avi Steinberg, J.A.K., Liana Finck, Tom Toro, David Sipress, Frank Cotham, Julia Suits, Emily Flake, Roz Chast, Charlie Hankin, Peter Vey, Jack Ziegler, Amy Kurzweil

The Cartoons: Avi Steinberg’s reading tree drawing caught my eye this week, as did P.C. Vey’s couple in bed with a harmonica, Julia Suits sandbox couple, and Liana Finck’s grass-fed cows.  And, not needless to say: it’s always a special treat to see work surface by the late very very great Jack Ziegler.

It’s unusual to mention the Cartoon Caption Contest drawing, but I can’t help myself this week. Enjoyed how Lars Kenseth clowned around with a car (below left).

Graphically it reminded me a little of Edward Koren’s “Well there’s your problem” published as the cover drawing (and its caption used as the title of) Mr. Koren’s 1981 cartoon collection.

The Rea Irvin Talk Masthead Watch:

Until the digital issue pops up I can’t be sure if Mr. Irvin’s classic masthead design is still in mothballs.  My guess is that it is.  In the meantime here’s what went missing in the Spring of 2017:

Read more about it here.

 

 

The Monday Tilley Watch, The New Yorker Issue Of April 6, 2020; Today’s Daily Cartoonist & Cartoon; Today’s Daily Shouts Cartoonist

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The Cover: A heart-strings reflection of the issue’s Health Issue theme (but it’s tempting to believe we’d see a cover along these lines even if it wasn’t the Health Issue).

The Cartoonists:

The Cartoons:

An umbrella observation from the get-go:  the abundance of color pieces (one by Roz Chast, one by Emily Flake, and one by Liana Finck) in this issue at times kind’ve almost sorta made it feel as if I was paging through a Cartoon Issue. However, unlike the special pieces found in Cartoon Issues of yore, all three of these new pieces are distinctly linked to one subject (can you guess what it might be?).

There are a number of cartoons in this issue that got my attention, beginning with Barbara Smaller’s (p.26) — my favorite Smaller drawing thus far this year. Also eye-catching: Justin Sheen’s castle & moat drawing; Brendan Loper’s getting away from it all cartoon, and Ed Steed’s survivor. All four enjoy a sharply written caption.

A number of drawings (beyond the color pieces mentioned above)  are either directly related to, or can be seen as related to the coronavirus, foremost being Joe Dator’s terrif drawing (p.69), P.C. Vey’s (p.31), and Mr. Loper’s cartoon on page 39. Tom Chitty’s friendly city drawing (p.57), as well as John O’Brien’s drawing (on page 72) could possibly be read as corona-related cartoons. The folks in Mr. O’Brien’s supermarket all seem to be spaced at least six feet apart, but, as with most all of Mr. O’Brien’s drawings, it’s an evergreen.

The remaining four drawings: Sofia Warren’s, Amy Hwang’s, Teresa Burns Parkhurst’s, and an effort from the Bliss/Martin duo, are comic relief unrelated to the health crisis.

Paperwork: the aforementioned Justin Sheen is new to the New Yorker cartoonist fold. He’s the 4th new cartoonist of 2020, and the 57th new cartoonist brought into The New Yorker since Emma Allen was appointed cartoon editor in the Spring of 2017.

The Rea Irvin Talk Masthead Watch:

Read about Rea Irvin’s mothballed iconic Talk masthead (above) here.

And This:

Just noticed that The New Yorker‘s Facebook New Yorker Cartoons page received a make-over. The new look is shown below — new (old) typography, and a (recycled) Rea Irvin inspired banana peel-inspecting Tilley icon replacing Christoph Niemann’s guy at a table icon. Mr. Niemann’s icon showed up in the Spring of 2017, and replaced an existing icon — a drawing by Jack Ziegler.  It puzzled me at the time (and thereafter) that work by a non-New Yorker cartoonist (Mr. Niemann) was chosen to replace an icon drawn by an iconic New Yorker cartoonist.

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Today’s Daily Cartoonist & Cartoon

Kendra Allenby on the newest normal.

Ms. Allenby began contributing to The New Yorker in 2016. Visit her website here.

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Today’s Daily Shouts Cartoonist

Avi Steinberg gives us “Things That Used To Be Annoying But Are Now A Comfort” — Mr. Steinberg began contributing to The New Yorker in 2012.

 

 

 

About Jack (Ziegler); An Evergreen Cartoon From Dana Fradon

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Ordinarily I’d rather not think too much about the end days of good friends.  But today I can’t quite shake thinking about my New Yorker cartoonist colleague and friend, Jack Ziegler, who passed away on this day three years ago. His unexpected finale was a shock; the aftershocks continue.

 

Photo:  Jack Ziegler with New Yorker cartoonist Dick Cline draped around his shoulders.

Beginning in 1974, when his first drawing was published in the magazine, Jack ‘s work was a ground-breaking force. Looks alone set it apart, never mind his cartoon concerns, his hamburger madness. The work disrupted the long held notion of what a New Yorker cartoon should be, and helped usher in the era of what it could be. Other cartoonists followed Jack into the art department (Roz Chast, Mick Stevens, Leo Cullum, to name but a few), but Jack was the point man for the magazine’s art editor, Lee Lorenz, when Lee decided to shake things up.

As March 2017 ended, in the days when it was time to speak to reporters about what Jack’s work meant to the magazine, I dubbed him the Godfather of Contemporary New Yorker Cartoonists. 2017 already seems like a long time ago, but the accolade stands. Without Jack, who knows if the magazine’s next generations of cartoonists would’ve taken the road less traveled. We’ll never know, and it doesn’t matter. We are where we are, in great part because of Jack.

 

Jack Ziegler’s entry on the Spill‘s A-Z:

Jack Ziegler (photo by Michael Maslin, taken at The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, NYC, 2008) Born, Brooklyn, NY July 13, 1942. Died, March  29, 2017.  New Yorker work: 1974 – 2017. Key collections: all of Ziegler’s collections are must-haves. Here’re some favorites: Hamburger Madness (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978), Filthy Little Things ( Doubleday/Dolphin, 1981) and The Essential Jack Ziegler, Complied and Edited by Lee Lorenz ( Workman, 2000). Link here for Ink Spill’s Jack Ziegler interview from late 2016.

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An Evergreen Cartoon From Dana Fradon Cartoon

Daniel Borinsky, a good friend of the Spill, recently unearthed this Dana Fradon New Yorker drawing. It appeared in the issue of April 27, 1957. My thanks to Mr. Borinsky for passing it along.

Dan Fradon’s entry on the Spill‘s A-Z:

Dana Fradon (photo taken in 1978). Born, Chicago, Illinois, 1922. Died, October 3, 2019, Woodstock, NY.  Studied at the Art Institute of Chicago prior to service in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. Following his service, he attended the Art Students League of New York, New Yorker work: May 1, 1948 – April 21, 2003. Collection: Insincerely Yours (Scribners, 1978) To read Ink Spill’s 2013 interview with Mr. Fradon, “Harold Ross’s Last Cartoonist” link here.

 

 

Lee Lorenz’s Essential Essentials; Today’s Daily Cartoonist & Cartoon

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Lee Lorenz’s Essential Essentials

Here are three essential books for any and every New Yorker cartoon library. All were compiled and edited by the former New Yorker  art/cartoon editor, Lee Lorenz.  My understanding is that there were to be more in the series, but we all know how fickle the publishing biz is (wouldn’t it have been just incredibly wonderful to have had an Essential Robert Weber!). What you’ll find in each book is a compact history of the subject, with early work, and interviews, bibliographies, favorite cartoon topics, and plenty of cartoons. The first two in the series came out in 1998 (Booth & Barsotti), followed by the Essential Ziegler in 2000.  Mr. Lorenz also gave us a great book on William Steig, as well as an overall look at The New Yorker‘s art and art department from its beginning.  Those titles are essential too — they just don’t include the word “essential”  in their titles.

From the Spill‘s A-Z, the entries for those mentioned above:

Lee Lorenz ( Photograph taken 1995 by Liza Donnelly) *Born 1932, Hackensack, NJ. Lorenz was the art editor of The New Yorker from 1973 to 1993 and its cartoon editor until 1997. During his tenure, a new wave of New Yorker cartoonists began appearing in the magazine — cartoonists who no longer depended on idea men. Cartoon collections: Here It Comes (Bobbs-Merrrill Co., Inc. 1968) ; Now Look What You’ve Done! (Pantheon, 1977) ; The Golden Age of Trash ( Chronicle Books, 1987); The Essential series, all published by Workman: : Booth (pub: 1998), Barsotti ( pub: 1998), Ziegler (pub: 2001), The Art of The New Yorker 1925 -1995, (Knopf, 1995), The World of William Steig (Artisan, 1998). New Yorker work: 1958 –.

Charles Barsotti Born, San Marcos, Texas, September 28, 1933.  Died, Kansas City, Mo., June 16, 2014. Mr. Barsotti was briefly the cartoon editor of The Saturday Evening Post ( from 1968 until its demise in 1969). The New York Times review of his 1981 collection “Kings Don’t Carry Money” led with the following:”Thurber lives, in Kansas City under the name of Charles Barsotti.” His deceptively simple line drawings of pups and kings, and businessmen have been a presence in The New Yorker for over fifty years. It is likely that Mr. Barsotti is the only New Yorker cartoonist to have ever run for Congress (an unsuccessful bid, in 1972, in Kansas). New Yorker work: 1962 – . Key collections: Kings Don’t Carry Money (Dodd, Mead, 1981), and The Essential Charles Barsotti, Compiled and Edited by Lee Lorenz (Workman, 1998). Website: http://www.barsotti.com/ ……Link to Ink Spill’s Charles Barsotti appreciation.

 

George Booth (photo above taken in NYC 2016, courtesy of Liza Donnelly) Born June 28, 1926, Cainesville, MO. New Yorker work: June 14, 1969 – . Key collections: Think Good Thoughts About A Pussycat (Dodd, Mead, 1975), Rehearsal’s Off! (Dodd, Mead, 1976), Omnibooth: The Best of George Booth ( Congdon & Weed, 1984), The Essential George Booth, Compiled and Edited by Lee Lorenz ( Workman, 1998).

Jack Ziegler (photo by Michael Maslin, taken at The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, NYC, 2008) Born, Brooklyn, NY July 13, 1942.  Died, March  29, 2017.  New Yorker work: 1974 – 2017. Key collections: all of Ziegler’s collections are must-haves. Here’re some favorites: Hamburger Madness (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978), Filthy Little Things ( Doubleday/Dolphin, 1981) and The Essential Jack Ziegler, Complied and Edited by Lee Lorenz ( Workman, 2000)….. Link here for Ink Spill’s Jack Ziegler interview from late 2016.

Robert Weber (Pictured mid 1980s. Photograph by Liza Donnelly) Born April 22, 1924, Los Angeles, California. Died, October 20, 2016, Branford Connecticut. NYer work: nearly 1500 cartoons, and close to a dozen covers since 1962…. Read Ink Spill’s November 2016 Appreciation of Mr. Weber here.

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The terrif cartoonist Kim Warp has today’s Daily Cartoon.  See it here.

Ms. Warp has been contributing to The New Yorker since 1999.

Visit her website here.