Would your typical magazine reader back in 1925 have had an inkling that the two early New Yorker covers shown here were the work of the same illustrator?
Today they're hanging side by side in "Drawn From The New Yorker: A Centennial Celebration," the exhibition at the Society of Illustrators curated by cartoonist Liza Donnelly. The artist capable of adopting such different styles is, of course, Rea Irvin.
The framed magazine, right, is a copy of the actual first issue of The New Yorker. Irvin's dandy, who would later be christened Eustace Tilley by humorist Corey Ford, was a throwback even in 1925. Irvin's source was an image of the Count d'Orsay from 1834. Somehow this anachronistic character who condescended to regard a butterfly through his monocle was to become the iconic symbol of the most remarkable of magazines. Editor Harold Ross's choice of this quirky cover design somehow reflects his singular vision for the magazine. Tilley is impossibly refined, a stodgy relic from a time when the Jazz Age couldn't even be imagined. This cover is, without question, an outlier on the newsstands in February of 1925, a cryptic teaser, perhaps, as to what may lie within. And it is a classic.
The New Yorker's twelfth issue, dated May 9, went to press with Irvin's fifth cover adorning the magazine. The original art appears in the show. In contrast to the graceful Tilley profile, it is very cartoony. Instead of the upper crust, we see the working class. And here Irvin has doubled down on the butterflies. New York's street sweepers were known as White Wings because of their regulation white uniforms. Clearly, Irvin is indulging in a visual pun.
Note: The blog's archives have a good deal more to say about The New Yorker's first issue, the twelfth issue, and Rea Irvin's magazine work in celebration of the New Year. Or see what other publications awaited magazine readers at the newsstand in February of 1925 here.
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