“New Yorker Cartoonists In Conversation”
Reminder! There’s a Society Of Illustrators Panel Discussion this Thursday March 6 at 6:30, withThe New Yorker Cartoon Editor, Emma Allen, cartoonists Asher Perlman and Zoe Si. Liza Donnelly is moderating.
While you’re there, be sure to take in the terrif exhibit, “Drawn From The New Yorker: A Centennial Celebration”
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Seasons At The New Yorker …”Private Inspirations Of The Artists”
Here’s a personal favorite collection of New Yorker covers from the olden times (it was published in 1984). The publisher, United Technologies Corporation, did a splendid job of presenting selected covers from sixty years of the magazine’s art.
There are three texts: “Introduction” by John H. Dobkin, the then Director of the National Academy of Design; “A Morning Light” by Brendan Gill; and “A Special Moment, Fleetingly Observed” by Charles Saxon.
Below is what a typical two page spread looks like. Here we see the great Ilonka Karasz’s January 29, 1927 New Yorker cover.
Saxon’s “…Fleetingly Observed” piece is especially interesting. Saxon, himself a cover artist, calls the magazine’s covers (from that time period of 1925 -1984) “private inspirations of the artists,” and goes into what he calls the two general groups of “cover content”: “Comment art” and art that is more subjective.
Here’s Saxon talking about Steinberg’s covers:
“For Steinberg, comment art is a more cerebral exercise, frequently approaching the abstract. He is delighted to be asked what one of his pictures ‘means,’ and invariably refuses to explain. He does explain, though, that that his great obsession is with the magic of line — with manipulating the simple pen line into sometimes conflicting definitions of space and thought.”
It’s interesting to note that 26 of the 36 cover artists in the book were also New Yorker cartoonists. In those pre-Tina Brown days, the magazine’s cartoonists provided the majority of cover art. Today, they provide less than 5%.