Simon Fieldhouse’s Latest 3D Portrait Sculpture: Peter Arno

Next up in artist Simon Fieldhouse‘s New Yorker series: Peter Arno. See the sculpture in various settings here.

And here are his other New Yorker 3D sculptures:

Eustace Tilley

Harold Ross

Saul Steinberg

To see all of his 3D sculptures, go here.

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Frank Cotham Returns As Guest On Cartoon Caption Contest Podcast

Frank Cotham, who began contributing to The New Yorker in 1993, returns to the CCCP in this episode (#248 for those keeping track). Listen here.

photo: clockwise, from top left…Frank Cotham, then the co-hosts Paul  Nesja, Vin Coca, Nicole Chrolavicius, Beth Lawler. 

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Paul Karasik Presents…

From The Vineyard Gazette, April 23, 2026, “Film Noir Takes Center Stage” — this piece on films and Mr. Karasik, who began contributing to The New Yorker  in 1999.  Visit his website here.

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                                                  Happy Birthday, Liza Donnelly!

The Spill sends birthday greetings to long-time New Yorker contributor, Liza Donnelly, seen above attempting to take it easy for a few minutes in Maine a few years ago.

Born in Washington, D.C., then high-tailing it asap to New York City, she has been contributing to The New Yorker since 1979. Among the many hats she wears, the most recent is filmmaker. Her documentary on The New Yorker‘s women cartoonists, Woman Laughing, co-directed with Kathleen Hughes, is making the rounds, festival-wise this year.

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— Drawing above: Donnelly’s first drawing bought by The New Yorker). Although sold in 1979, the magazine didn’t run it until November 22, 1982.

–Photo above: taken by this cartoonist 

The Monday Tilley Watch takes a glancing look at the art and artists of the latest issue of The New Yorker

The Cartoonists and Cartoons

Thirteen cartoons, thirteen cartoonists. No newbies. No duos, that we know of. The longest active contributing cartoonist in the issue is this cartoonist (my drawing of a fife-playing bear appears on the Cartoon Caption Contest page with this week’s winning caption).

This week’s cartoons (in a slideshow)

This week’s Cartoon Caption Contest (Robert Leighton provides the latest contest drawing).

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The Rea Irvin Talk Watch

Way back in 2017, Rea Irvin’s 92 year old Talk design (shown here) was yanked and replaced by…I can’t even believe I’m writing this: a redrawn version by a contemporary illustrator. The Spill continues to hope that Mr. Irvin’s work returns. Read more here.

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Rea Irvin’s A-Z Entry:

Rea Irvin (pictured above. Self portrait above from Meet the Artist) Born, San Francisco, 1881; died in the Virgin Islands,1972. Irvin was the cover artist for the New Yorker’s first issue, February 21, 1925. He was the magazine’s first art and only art supervisor (some refer to him as its first art editor) holding the position from 1925 until 1939 when James Geraghty assumed the title of art editor. Irvin then became art director and remained in that position until William Shawn officially succeeded Harold Ross in early 1952. Irvin’s last original work for the magazine was the magazine’s cover of July 12, 1958. The February 21, 1925 Eustace Tilley cover had been reproduced every year on the magazine’s anniversary until 1994, when R. Crumb’s Tilley-inspired cover appeared. Tilley has since reappeared, with other artists substituting from time-to-time. Number of New Yorker covers (not including the repeat appearances of the first cover every anniversary up to 1991): 179. Number of cartoons contributed: 261.

Latest Addition To The Spill Library: Spiegelman’s Co-Mix

It’s only taken me 13 years to get around to buying Art Spiegelman’s Co-Mix. The truth is, I wasn’t really aware of it until the other day. Mr. Spiegelman’s short New Yorker ride (1992-2003) was mostly focused on cover art. As long-time Spill readers know, the focus here is on the magazine’s cartoonists (New Yorker cover art is mentioned largely because a number of the magazine’s cartoonists — but mostly in the past — have contributed covers. Perry Barlow, mentioned below, is one shining example; then there’s the small number of cover artists who contributed a few cartoons. The great cover artist Arthur Getz is an example).

Mr. Spiegelman’s roots did not include The New Yorker (“… it must be said – I never read the earlier editions of the magazine.”) *– he came out of the underground comics world. Due to my early interest in underground comics,** the Spill library has on its shelves a small number of underground/comix-centric books and publications. I found Co-Mix to be an excellent addition to that part of the collection. The book includes a timeline (I love that form of capsule biography), as well as a selected bibliography. Much to digest there. There’s an interesting section on Spiegelman’s New Yorker covers (footnote: his wife was — and is currently — the covers editor). We are shown several covers as they developed (I guess that’s called “process”). I liked seeing a few rejected covers as well.

It’s highly unusual for an artist to leave (or as it’s described in this book, “drift away” from) The New Yorker. But that’s exactly what Spiegelman did in 2003. He “drifted away” in the form of not renewing his New Yorker contract. At the time, the non-renewal received some attention in the press. Speaking to The Observer in January of that year, Spiegelman said:

“I find as much fault with David Remnick’s New Yorker as I do with American media in general,” Mr. Spiegelman continued. “It’s insanely timid. But that’s a criticism I’m not leveling at David. It’s part of the zeitgeist right now. And it’s why I feel I’m in internal exile.” 

*The Observer, Jan. 6, 2003, “Spiegelman Splits From The New Yorker“

Further reading:

** Ink Spill, June 23, 2024,  “Personal History: A Graphic Family Tree”

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A New Yorker State Of Mind Looks At The Issue Of May 23, 1936

A Spill fave blog, A New Yorker State Of Mind: Reading Every Issue Of The New Yorker Magazine, as usual, does an excellent  job of digging into a long ago issue of the magazine.

Read it here.

Cover by Perry Barlow. His A-Z Entry:

Perry Barlow ( photo above from barlowgeneology.com) Born 1892, McKinney, Texas. Died, Westport, Connecticut, December 26,1977. New Yorker work: 1926 -1974, with 1,574 drawings and 135 covers. According to Barlow’s obit in The New York Times (Dec. 27, 1977) William Shawn called him “one of the gentlest and most humane of all comic artists…he was also one of our three or four most prolific people.” In the same piece, James Geraghty (The New Yorker’s Art editor from 1939 thru 1973) said “he often tried to interest Mr. Barlow in publishing a book of his drawings ‘but he was halfhearted about it.’” Mr. Barlow’s wife, Dorothy Hope Smith, played a role in his work: she colored-in his covers because her husband was partly color blind.

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“His People Simply Happen”

In a 1989 collection, Conversations With James Thurber (University Press of Mississippi) edited by Thomas Fensch, there’s a terrif article, “Melancholy Doodler,” by Arthur Millier (it originally appeared in The Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, July 2, 1939). Thurber was forty-four at the time, and in the last year of the best decade of his life, drawings-wise. His eyesight, by May of ’39, had already worsened  to the point of his “struggling to type, read, and draw.”

The article makes no mention of Thurber’s eyesight or his struggles — it rolls along as if all’s well in Thurberland. Here are just a few quotes from the piece (I’d run the whole thing, but don’t want to get into a copyright muddle).

Thurber speaking to Millier:

“You are probably the only person in America who knows I write.” he said bitterly. “They all say: ‘Oh yes, Thurber?–the guy makes those crazy drawings?'”

“i’m not an artist. I’m a painstaking writer who doodles for relaxation. But it’s those doodles they go for…They’ve even labeled me a Dadiast and a surrealist…”

“I almost never have a piece of writing turned down [by The New Yorker]. They print them all — but who reads them? Whereas my drawings — the things people know me for — are often turned down.”

“Captions can make a drawing. Some of my drawings lie around the office for years — waiting for an inspired line.”

Finally, here’s Millier talking about Thurber’s drawings:

“When Thurber begins a drawing of these curious yet strangely familiar people, he rarely knows what they will look like or do. He just lets his hand move with a pencil in it. His people simply happen…”

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–The undated drawing above can be found at Vassar’s Francis Lehman Loeb Art Center.  ________________

James Thurber’s A-Z Entry:

James Thurber Born, Columbus, Ohio, December 8, 1894. Died 1961, New York City. New Yorker work: 1927 -1961, with several pieces run posthumously. According to the New Yorker’s legendary editor, William Shawn, “In the early days, a small company of writers, artists, and editors — E.B. White, James Thurber, Peter Arno, and Katharine White among them — did more to make the magazine what it is than can be measured.”

Key cartoon collection: The Seal in the Bedroom and Other Predicaments (Harper & Bros., 1932). Key anthology (writings & drawings): The Thurber Carnival (Harper & Row, 1945). There have been a number of Thurber biographies. Burton Bernstein’s Thurber (Dodd, Mead, 1975) and Harrison Kinney’s James Thurber: His Life and Times (Henry Holt & Co., 1995) are essential. Website

                                             Arthur Getz’s Memorial Day Cover

I could be wrong about this, but I believe that this Arthur Getz cover, dated May 30, 1958, is the first Memorial Day themed New Yorker cover (I looked through every end of May issue from 1925 to 1958). The cover shows us  The Eternal Light Flagstaff located in Manhattan’s Madison Square Park, along its west side on Broadway.

The screen grab from Google’s street map shows the monument today (the base mostly obscured by a blossom tree. A few of the buildings Mr. Getz painted remain along Broadway.

Dedicated on Veteran’s Day in the mid 1920s, the monument, according to the New York Department of Records includes a:

star-shaped luminaire at the top of the pole [that] is intended to be lit at all times as an eternal tribute to those who paid the supreme sacrifice. 

More about the Eternal Light Flagstaff here, with history and photos

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Arthur Getz’s A-Z Entry:

Arthur Getz Born, Passaic, New Jersey, 1913; died, 1996. NYer work: 1938 -1988. Primarily a cover artist, he had one cartoon published: March 15, 1958. (You might say his career was a mirror image of George Price’s, who was one of the most prolific cartoonists, with over 1200 published, and one cover). According to the official Getz website, he was the most prolific of all New Yorker cover artists, having 213 appear during the fifty years he contributed to the magazine. The official Getz website, containing his biography.

James Thurber, speaking to Alistaire Cooke on Omnibus:

“…after I had sold a few to the New Yorker magazine, Andy White, my colleague there, found me carefully shading in something and he said, “ Hey, stop that, don’t do that — if you ever became good you’d be mediocre.” 

This somewhat famous quote has stuck with me for decades (I’m not really sure how famous it is). It seems, on its face, simple advice, but I believe there’s way more to it than “Hey…don’t do that.” E.B. White, who of course was an advocate of clarity in writing, was heading off a notion that so many fledgling artists develop — that they should aspire to becoming “better” at drawing. If that’s really what you want to do, than, “Hey…do that!”  But I believe the hunt for “better” can sometimes stifle the artist (please remember I said, “sometimes”).

One of the very best things about The New Yorker is that it embraced Thurber’s art as it was, not as New Yorker editors might wish it would be. That’s one of the wonders of the magazine’s editorial DNA: staying out of an artist’s way. Back in 2013, in my interview with veteran artist, Dana Fradon, he discussed The New Yorker’s Art editor, James Geraghty. Mr. Fradon said Geraghty’s editorial direction was simply, “Make it beautiful.” Thanks to the magazine’s hands-off policy, and E.B. White’s two cents, Thurber did Thurber (beautifully!) and we are all the luckier for it.

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James Thurber Born, Columbus, Ohio, December 8, 1894. Died 1961, New York City. New Yorker work: 1927 -1961, with several pieces run posthumously. According to the New Yorker’s legendary editor, William Shawn, “In the early days, a small company of writers, artists, and editors — E.B. White, James Thurber, Peter Arno, and Katharine White among them — did more to make the magazine what it is than can be measured.”

Key cartoon collection: The Seal in the Bedroom and Other Predicaments (Harper & Bros., 1932). Key anthology (writings & drawings): The Thurber Carnival (Harper & Row, 1945). There have been a number of Thurber biographies. Burton Bernstein’s Thurber (Dodd, Mead, 1975) and Harrison Kinney’s James Thurber: His Life and Times (Henry Holt & Co., 1995) are essential. Website

Polly Lou Adams Guests On The Latest Cartoon Caption Contest Podcast

Polly Lou Adams (upper left in the photo), who began contributing to The New Yorker in June of 2025, joins two of four CCCP co-hosts, Paul Nesja (upper right) and Nicole Chrolavicius. It’s Episode #249 for those keeping track. Listen here. 

Visit Polly Lou Adams website here. ___________________________________________________________________

A New Yorker State Of Mind Digs Into The Issue Of April 25, 1936

A New Yorker State of Mind: Reading Every Issue of The New Yorker Magazine continues its good work. 

Read it here. 

Cover by Rea Irvin: Born, San Francisco, 1881; died in the Virgin Islands,1972. Irvin was the cover artist for the New Yorker’s first issue, February 21, 1925. He was the magazine’s first art and only art supervisor (some refer to him as its first art editor) holding the position from 1925 until 1939 when James Geraghty assumed the title of art editor. Irvin then became art director and remained in that position until William Shawn officially succeeded Harold Ross in early 1952. Irvin’s last original work for the magazine was the magazine’s cover of July 12, 1958. The February 21, 1925 Eustace Tilley cover had been reproduced every year on the magazine’s anniversary until 1994, when R. Crumb’s Tilley-inspired cover appeared. Tilley has since reappeared, with other artists substituting from time-to-time. Number of New Yorker covers (not including the repeat appearances of the first cover every anniversary up to 1991): 179. Number of cartoons contributed: 261. 

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Article Of Interest…Guy Richards Smit

From The Creative Independent, April 30, 2026, Mr. Smit’s  conversation with Brandon Stosay. 

Guy Richards Smit began contributing to The New Yorker in 2022.

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Live Interview Of Interest: Liza Donnelly On Radio Free Rhinecliff

Liza Donnelly, long-time New Yorker contributor, and filmmaker (Women Laughing) will be live today at 5 on Radio Free Rhinecliff. Listen here.  

Photo: Eric Korenman

The Monday Tilley Watch takes a glancing look at the art and artists of the latest issue of The New Yorker

The Cartoonists and Cartoons

Eleven cartoons, thirteen cartoonists (Barry Blitt has the cover, and Roz Chast has a “Sketchbook”). No duos, that we know of. No newbies. The longest active contributing cartoonist in the lot is this cartoonist (I began contributing in 1977).

This week’s cartoons (in a slideshow).

This week’s Cartoon Caption Contest (Colin Tom provides the drawing for the latest contest)

The Rea Irvin Talk Watch

If you look through this latest issue of The New Yorker, I guarantee you will not find Rea Irvin’s classic Talk design (shown here) in the magazine. Instead, you’ll see a redrawn(!) version of Mr. Irvin’s work. The redraw showed up in May of 2017, replacing Irvin’s work that had been in place for 92 years. For some inexplicable (to me) reason, the redraw has stayed there ever since. The Spill continues to hope Rea Irvin’s work returns. Read more here. 

The Tilley Watch Online, May 4-8, 2026

An end of the week listing of New Yorker artists whose work has appeared on newyorker.com features

Daily Cartoon: Emily Flake, Victoria Roberts, Ben Schwartz, Bob Eckstein, Olivia Pecini (a bonus cartoon by an online only cartoonist), Meredith Southard.

See them here (in a slideshow)

Barry Blitt’s Kvetchbook: “Straight Outta Hormuz” 

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Happy Mother’s Day

One from The New Yorker, August 19, 1985.

I love it when a Thurber moment comes out of the blue. In this case the moment involves a 2020 Esquire article on Jerry Stiller, who played George Costanza’s father, Frank, on Seinfeld.

It’s difficult to imagine Seinfeld with Jerry Stiller’s Frank Costanza character as meek, but according to the article that’s exactly how Frank was originally conceived. We’ll never know how that would’ve worked out, but the way it did work out was comedy gold (I don’t suppose it’s necessary to mention that Jerry Stiller’s real life son, Ben Stiller directed, co-produced, and starred in a modern day take on Thurber’s Walter Mitty…well, no matter — I just mentioned it).

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James Thurber Born, Columbus, Ohio, December 8, 1894. Died 1961, New York City. New Yorker work: 1927 -1961, with several pieces run posthumously. According to the New Yorker’s legendary editor, William Shawn, “In the early days, a small company of writers, artists, and editors — E.B. White, James Thurber, Peter Arno, and Katharine White among them — did more to make the magazine what it is than can be measured.”

Key cartoon collection: The Seal in the Bedroom and Other Predicaments (Harper & Bros., 1932). Key anthology (writings & drawings): The Thurber Carnival (Harper & Row, 1945). There have been a number of Thurber biographies. Burton Bernstein’s Thurber (Dodd, Mead, 1975) and Harrison Kinney’s James Thurber: His Life and Times (Henry Holt & Co., 1995) are essential. Website

The New Yorker’s 1st Basketball Cartoon and 1st Basketball Cover

With basketball fever gripping Gotham City, I thought it was time to take stock of New Yorker basketball 1sts (cartoon and cover). According to the magazine’s database, the very first New Yorker basketball cartoon appeared in the issue of December 23, 1933. The artist: Robert Day.

Robt. Day’s A-Z Entry:

Robert Day (photo from This Week anthology, 1954) Born, 1900, San Bernardino, California. Died, February, 1985, Gravette, Arkansas. New Yorker work: 1931 -1976. Collection: All Out For the Sack Race! (Random House, 1945).

And according to the database, the first basketball themed cover appeared March 10, 1951. Cover artist: the great Abe Birnbaum:

Abe Birnbaum’s A-Z Entry:

Abe Birnbaum Born, New York City, 1899. Died June 19, 1966, New York City. New Yorker work: 1929 -1974. Mr. Birnbaum began at the New Yorker as a cartoonist, contributing a handful before switching to cover work, of which he produced 141. He also provided spot drawings and illustrations. According to Mr. Birnbaum’s New York Times obit, his work was exhibited at The Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Carnegie Institute.

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MAD‘s Addams & Peter Arno Parodies

Thanks to a Facebook post by the EC Fan-Addict Club, this 1955 MAD Magazine parody of Charles Addams famous Family came to my attention. When I sought out the entire magazine online (MAD No.26 1955), I found this great site that allows us to see every page of back issues. What I found, when paging through, was a Peter Arno parody sitting right next to the Addams parody. Both drawings were executed by MAD artist, Will Elder.

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