Eustace Tilley is of course a fictional character — commonly referred to as The New Yorker‘s mascot. There is a suggested backstory to Tilley himself in Lee Lorenz’s Art of The New Yorker: 1925-1995; there are best guesses elsewhere as to why Rea Irvin (see below) decided to submit the cover to Harold Ross to adorn Ross’s inaugural
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The Thanksgiving Turkey’s New Yorker Cover & Cartoon Debut
Two Thanksgivings passed by in the New Yorker‘s earliest years before a turkey made the cover. The artist for the issue of November 19, 1927: the one-and-only Rea Irvin. Here’s Mr. Irvin’s entry on Ink Spill‘s “New Yorker Cartoonists A-Z”: Rea Irvin (pictured above. Self portrait above from Meet the Artist) *Born, San Francisco, 1881; died in the Virgin Islands,1972.
Read moreExhibit of Interest: R. Crumb’s Early Work; More Spills with Liza Donnelly, Victoria Roberts, Michael Crawford, and a Piece on newyorker.com’s Videos
The Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery will exhibit “R. Crumb: Early Works, 1965 – 1967″ Details here. Mr. Crumb’s New Yorker debut was a cover for the 1994 anniversary issue. His cover, titled “Elvis Tilley” marked the first break in the magazine’s sixty-eight year old tradition of running Rea Irvin’s classic Eustace Tilley on the cover of the anniversary issue. (For
Read moreEvergreens
The past three months we’ve lost three giants in the New Yorker Cartoonists constellation: William Hamilton in April, Frank Modell in May and Anatol Kovarsky in June. Together they contributed just over 2,600 pieces (including covers) to the magazine, but of course it is immeasurable what they really gave in hours,
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