The Tilley Watch Online, May 11-15, 2026

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

Daily Cartoon: Mo Welch, Adam Douglas Thompson, Brendan Loper, Avi Steinberg, (the duo of) Pia Guerra and Ian Boothby. See them here. 

The Daily: How To Win Our Cartoon Caption Contest— a Q&A with Caroline Mimbs Nyce and the magazine’s deputy cartoon editor, Rachel Aster Perlman.

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Two New Yorker Artists Are Pulitzer Finalists

We learned yesterday that Peter Kuper (above, left) and Ivan Ehlers (on the right) were named finalists in the Pulitzer Prize category of Illustrated Reporting and Commentary. The Spill congratulates both of these fine folks.

Mr. Kuper began contributing to The New Yorker in 2011; Mr. Ehlers in 2021.

Peter Kuper’s website

Ivan Ehlers’ website

See the full list of 2026 winners and finalists here.

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Article Of Interest: Alan Dunn’s Architectural Drawings

From Apollo Magazine, April 27, 2026, “The Cartoonist with A Fine Line In Architectural Criticism” 

— this piece by Will Wiles comes just weeks before the publication of Gabriele Neri’s Alan Dunn: The Cartoonist As Architectural Critic (May 25, 2026. MIT Press).

Mr. Dunn was, for many years, the most published New Yorker artist.

(My thanks to Mike Rhode for the link) 

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Alan Dunn’s A-Z Entry:

Alan Dunn (self portrait above from Meet the Artist) Born in Belmar, New Jersey, August 11, 1900, died in New York City, May 20, 1974. New Yorker work: 1926 -1974 Key collections: Rejections (Knopf, 1931), Who’s Paying For This Cab? (Simon & Schuster, 1945), A Portfolio of Social Cartoons ( Simon & Schuster, 1968). One of the most published New Yorker cartoonists (1,906 cartoons) , Mr. Dunn was married to Mary Petty — together they lived and worked at 12 East 88th Street, where, according to the NYTs, Alan worked “seated in a small chair at a card table, drawing in charcoal and grease pencil.”

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More Dunn…Rejections (Knopf, 1931), and Who’s Paying for This Cab? A Book of Cartoons from the New Yorker (Simon and Schuster, 1945).

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Cartoon Caption Contest Podcast Celebrates Its 250 Episode

Congrats to the fine folks at the Cartoon Caption Contest Podcast on their 250th! Listen to their special episode here. 

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Paul Noth Cartoon Collection Cover Revealed

The collection by Mr. Noth, who has been contributing to The New Yorker since 2004, will be out this October.

Now That’s A Cover!

Here’s a beauty from C.E.M. (Charles E. Martin) who contributed 434 cartoons and 187(!) covers in his 49 year run at the magazine. Interesting (to me) that he began his New Yorker career strictly as a cover artist (his first was the issue of August 6, 1938, signed “Chas. Martin”). His first cartoon did not appear until February of 1947.

What I love about the October 22, 1966 cover is the easy to overlook old building at the bottom. Martin is giving us a familiar New York City site: the old hanging in despite the forward march of the new.

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C.E.M.’s A-Z Entry

Charles E. Martin ( C.E.M.) (photo left above from Think Small, a cartoon collection produced by Volkswagon. Photo right, courtesy of Roxie Munro) Born in Chelsie, Mass., 1910, died June 18, 1995, Portland, Maine. New Yorker work: 1938 – 1987.

The New York Times On William Steig’s Shrek

Here’s a welcome out-of-the-blue, awkwardly headlined New York Times article by Brian Raftery on William Steig and his most famous creation, Shrek.

“Nobody Once Told Him the World Was Gonna Meme Shrek” 

I have two bones to pick with this otherwise terrif piece — both concern “a thousand illustrations” found in this sentence:

“Steig began selling his art to publications including The New Yorker, to which he’d ultimately contribute more than a thousand illustrations.”

Bone #1: technically, “…more than a thousand…” is correct, but of the very few New Yorker cartoonists who have contributed 1000 or more cartoons to The New Yorker (approximately 20 something out of the approximately 850 cartoonists who have contributed since 1925), only four have contributed in the range of 2000: Steig, James Stevenson, Alan Dunn, and Lee Lorenz. A (perhaps weedsy) feat worth mentioning, at least here on the Spill.

Bone #2: cartoons are not illustrations, and illustrations are not cartoons. The New Yorker has had a 100 year practice of making sure the cartoons in the magazine do not refer to the accompanying text. Illustrations accompany and refer to accompanying text — cartoons do not. Cartoons stand alone — they are graphic islands.

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William Steig’s A-Z Entry:

William Steig (photo above) Born in Brooklyn, NY, Nov. 14, 1907, died in Boston, Mass., Oct. 3, 2003. In a New Yorker career that lasted well over half a century and a publishing history that contains more than a cart load of books, both children’s and otherwise, it’s impossible to sum up Steig’s influence here on Ink Spill. He was among the giants of the New Yorker cartoon world, along with James Thurber, Saul Steinberg, Charles Addams, Helen Hokinson and Peter Arno. Lee Lorenz’s World of William Steig (Artisan, 1998) is an excellent way to begin exploring Steig’s life and work. New Yorker work: 1930 -2003.

A New Yorker State Of Mind Digs Into The Issue Of May 30, 1936

A New Yorker State Of Mind: Reading Every Issue Of The New Yorker Magazine does its usual (and quite wonderful) deep dive into a long ago issue of the magazine. This week it’s The New Yorker of May 30, 1936.

Read it here

Cover by the one-and-only Rea Irvin. His A-Z Entry:

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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Perlman’s Pod

Asher Perlman, who began contributing to The New Yorker in 2021, has announced he’s starting a podcast. His latest cartoon collection is Hi, It’s Me Again (Andrews McMeel).

From Mr. Perlman:

My Own “I Like The Kitty” Moment

Many of us recall the famous Seinfeld episode, “The Cartoon” (written by my New Yorker colleague, Bruce Eric Kaplan) that includes the scene where Elaine Benes goes into “The New Yorker” to confront the editor (“Mr. Elinoff”) about a cartoon she doesn’t understand.

Here’s the dialogue:

• Mr. Elinoff: Miss Benes, cartoons are like gossamer, and one doesn’t dissect gossamer.
• Elaine Benes: Well, you don’t have to dissect it if you could just tell me why this is supposed to be funny.
• Mr. Elinoff: Oh, it’s merely a commentary on contemporary mores.
• Elaine Benes: But what is the comment?
• Mr. Elinoff: It’s a slice of life.
• Elaine Benes: No, it isn’t.
• Mr. Elinoff: A pun?
• Elaine Benes: I don’t think so.
• Mr. Elinoff: Vorshtein?
• Elaine Benes: That’s not a word. You have no idea what this means.
• Mr. Elinoff: No.
• Elaine Benes: Then why did you print it?
• Mr. Elinoff: I like the kitty.

I had my own “I like the kitty” moment yesterday when a Mr. Cooper from Victoria, Canada wrote in asking me to explain a drawing of mine that appears in the 1987 collection (edited by Sam Gross), Cats! Cats! Cats!. 

Here’s the drawing:

My immediate reaction was to write Mr. Cooper back saying, “Vorshtein.” But instead, I admitted I had no idea what the cartoon meant. This morning I showed the cartoon to my wife (who is also a long time New Yorker cartoonist). She immediately furrowed — not a good sign.

If any cartoonist out there has had a similar experience (that is: not “getting” one of your own drawings) I’d love to hear about it.

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The Tilley Watch Online, June 1-5, 2026

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

Daily Cartoon: Matt Reuter(twice), Elisabeth McNair, this cartoonist, Jorge Penne.

A Cartoon Soccer Selection: “Kicking It” 

A Cartoon Basketball Selection: “Full-Court Press”

Barry Blitt’s Kvetchbook: “Data Centers Bring The Buzz”

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Another in a series of quick looks at an artist’s very first New Yorker cartoon and their last. 

Here’s one of the 80 or so New Yorker artists who had but one cartoon in the magazine. I call them “One Clubbers” in the Spill‘s A-Z; this fellow appears on every One Clubber’s entry:

Fougasse’s first and his last New Yorker cartoon appeared in the issue of March 28, 1925.

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Fougasse’s A-Z Entry:

Cyril Kenneth Bird  Born, London, December 17, 1887. Died, 1965. New Yorker work: 1 cartoon, March 28, 1925. Known professionally under the name Fougasse, Bird became art editor of Punch in 1937, and assumed the title of editor in 1949. Key book: The Good-Tempered Pencil, A Survey of Modern British and American Humorous Art (Max Reinhardt, 1956).

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More Fougasse:  here and here. A goodly number of original work here at the Chris Beetles Gallery.

Award Of Interest…Bruce Eric Kaplan

From New Jersey Stage, May 15, 2026, “Bruce Eric Kaplan To Receive The Maplewood Literary Award On May 21st” 

Mr. Kaplan (who signs his work “BEK”) began contributing to The New Yorker in 1991. His most recent book is They Went Another Way: A Hollywood Memoir (Henry Holt & co., 2024)

Below: his first cartoon collection (1999), and his memoir (2015):

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Hilary Campbell Has A Sketchbook Club

Hilary Campbell began contributing to The New Yorker in 2017. All the details about her Sketchbook Club can be found here on Instagram.Her most recent book is The Joy Of Snacking (Andrews McMeel, 2025).

Visit her website here.

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Liana Finck Speaks

From Dorotusa, “An Afternoon With Cartoonist Liana Finck” — notice of an online appearance on May 27th where, according to the organization’s  website:

“Cartoonist and graphic novelist Liana Finck talks about her New Yorker cartoons and her books, which include an adaptation of Yiddish advice column A Bintel Brief and Let There Be Light, an adaptation of the Book of Genesis.” All the info here.

Liana Finck began contributing to The New Yorker in 2013. Visit her website here.

“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

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.

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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