George Washington's birthday falls on February 22, a fact that was known to most Americans before the creation of Presidents' Day. An undated and unpublished New Yorker cover by Rea Irvin was intended, no doubt, to celebrate the great general on his day. That might just be Alexander Hamilton on the left side of the image handling his correspondence. The postage stamp, of course, is a deliberate anachronism—and the joke.
Irvin's proposed cover art is on view at L'Alliance New York, part of the show called "Covering The New Yorker" curated by the current art editor Françoise Mouly. It is one of only two original works of art representing the magazine's first seventy years, neither of which was a published cover.
The other work is a preliminary drawing for what was to became the cover of December 20, 1958. The artist, Peter Arno, must have originally intended this to be a drawing inside the magazine. Reworking it into a cover necessitated some changes. He removed the awning and the background wash to accommodate the logo. He also eliminated the doorman, taking the driver out of the car and making him the central, taller figure. Placing the drawing on the cover also allowed Arno to add a striking splash of holiday color.
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