The stories behind The New Yorker's iconic covers
-
0:01 - 0:03So 24 years ago,
-
0:03 - 0:04I was brought to The New Yorker
-
0:04 - 0:06as art editor
-
0:06 - 0:10to rejuvenate
-
0:10 - 0:15what had by then become
a somewhat staid institution -
0:15 - 0:18and to bring in new artists
-
0:18 - 0:21and to try to bring the magazine
from its ivory tower -
0:21 - 0:25into engaging with its time.
-
0:25 - 0:27And it was just
the right thing for me to do -
0:27 - 0:32because I've always been captivated
by how an image can -- -
0:32 - 0:34a simple drawing --
-
0:34 - 0:38can cut through the torrent of images
that we see every single day. -
0:39 - 0:41How it can capture a moment,
-
0:41 - 0:46how it can crystallize
a social trend or a complex event -
0:46 - 0:51in a way that a lot of words
wouldn't be able to do -- -
0:51 - 0:55and reduce it to its essence
and turn it into a cartoon. -
0:56 - 0:58So I went to the library
-
0:58 - 1:04and I looked at the first cover
drawn by Rea Irvin in 1925 -- -
1:04 - 1:08a dandy looking at a butterfly
through his monocle, -
1:09 - 1:12and we call it Eustace Tilley.
-
1:12 - 1:16And I realized that
as the magazine had become known -
1:16 - 1:22for its in-depth research
and long reports, -
1:22 - 1:25some of the humor
had gotten lost along the way, -
1:25 - 1:29because now often Eustace Tilley
was seen as a haughty dandy, -
1:29 - 1:33but in fact, in 1925,
-
1:33 - 1:36when Rea Irvin first drew this image,
-
1:36 - 1:39he did it as part of a humor magazine
-
1:39 - 1:41to amuse the youth of the era,
-
1:41 - 1:44which was the flappers
of the roaring twenties. -
1:45 - 1:46And in the library,
-
1:46 - 1:51I found the images
that really captured the zeitgeist -
1:51 - 1:54of the Great Depression.
-
1:54 - 1:58And it showed us
not just how people dressed -
1:58 - 2:00or what their cars looked like,
-
2:00 - 2:03but also what made them laugh,
-
2:03 - 2:05what their prejudices were.
-
2:05 - 2:08And you really got a sense
-
2:08 - 2:11of what it felt like
to be alive in the '30s. -
2:12 - 2:15So I called on contemporary artists,
-
2:15 - 2:18such as Adrian Tomine here.
-
2:18 - 2:21I often call on narrative artists --
-
2:21 - 2:23cartoonists, children's book authors --
-
2:23 - 2:26and I give them themes such as,
-
2:27 - 2:29you know, what it's like
to be in the subway, -
2:29 - 2:31or Valentine's Day,
-
2:31 - 2:33and they send me sketches.
-
2:33 - 2:37And once the sketches
are approved by the editor, -
2:37 - 2:38David Remnick,
-
2:39 - 2:41it's a go.
-
2:41 - 2:43And I love the way
-
2:43 - 2:49those images are actually
not telling you what to think. -
2:49 - 2:51But they do make you think,
-
2:51 - 2:56because the artist is actually --
-
2:56 - 2:57it's almost a puzzle;
-
2:57 - 2:59the artist is drawing the dots,
-
2:59 - 3:02and you, the reader,
have to complete the picture. -
3:02 - 3:06So to get this image
on the left by Anita Kunz, -
3:06 - 3:09or the one on right by Tomer Hanuka,
-
3:09 - 3:12you have to play spot the differences.
-
3:12 - 3:15And it is something that ...
-
3:16 - 3:19It's really exciting to see
-
3:19 - 3:25how the engagement with the reader ...
-
3:26 - 3:30how those images really capture --
-
3:30 - 3:32play with the stereotypes.
-
3:32 - 3:33But when you get it,
-
3:33 - 3:37it rearranges the stereotypes
that are in your head. -
3:38 - 3:41But the images don't
just have to show people, -
3:41 - 3:43sometimes it can be a feeling.
-
3:43 - 3:45Right after September 11,
-
3:46 - 3:49I was at a point,
-
3:49 - 3:50like everybody else,
-
3:50 - 3:55where I really didn't know how to deal
with what we were going through, -
3:55 - 4:01and I felt that no image
could capture this moment, -
4:01 - 4:03and I wanted to just do a black cover,
-
4:03 - 4:05like no cover.
-
4:05 - 4:09And I talked to my husband,
cartoonist Art Spiegelman, -
4:09 - 4:13and mentioned to him
that I was going to propose that, -
4:13 - 4:15and he said, "Oh, if you're
going to do a black cover, -
4:15 - 4:19then why don't you do
the silhouette of the Twin Towers, -
4:19 - 4:21black on black?"
-
4:21 - 4:22And I sat down to draw this,
-
4:22 - 4:24and as soon as I saw it,
-
4:25 - 4:26a shiver ran down my spine
-
4:26 - 4:28and I realized
-
4:29 - 4:32that in this refusal to make an image,
-
4:32 - 4:37we had found a way to capture loss
-
4:37 - 4:39and mourning
-
4:39 - 4:40and absence.
-
4:42 - 4:46And it's been a profound thing
that I learned in the process -- -
4:46 - 4:52that sometimes some of the images
that say the most -
4:52 - 4:55do it with the most spare means.
-
4:56 - 4:59And a simple image can speak volumes.
-
4:59 - 5:03So this is the image
that we published by Bob Staake -
5:03 - 5:07right after the election of Barack Obama,
-
5:08 - 5:11and captured a historic moment.
-
5:11 - 5:14But we can't really plan for this,
-
5:14 - 5:15because in order to do this,
-
5:15 - 5:21we have to let the artist
experience the emotions that we all feel -
5:21 - 5:23when that is happening.
-
5:23 - 5:27So back in November 2016,
-
5:27 - 5:30during the election last year,
-
5:30 - 5:33the only image that we
could publish was this, -
5:33 - 5:37which was on the stand
on the week that everybody voted. -
5:37 - 5:38(Laughter)
-
5:38 - 5:41Because we knew
somebody would feel this -- -
5:41 - 5:42(Laughter)
-
5:42 - 5:45when the result of the election
was announced. -
5:46 - 5:49And when we found out the result,
-
5:51 - 5:52we really were at a loss,
-
5:52 - 5:58and this is the image
that was sent by Bob Staake again, -
5:59 - 6:02and that really hit a chord.
-
6:02 - 6:04And again,
-
6:04 - 6:10we can't really figure out
what's going to come next, -
6:10 - 6:13but here it felt like we didn't
know how to move forward, -
6:13 - 6:14but we did move forward,
-
6:14 - 6:20and this is the image that we published
after Donald Trump's election -
6:20 - 6:24and at the time of the Women's March
-
6:24 - 6:25all over the US.
-
6:26 - 6:28So over those 24 years,
-
6:28 - 6:33I have seen over 1,000 images
come to life week after week, -
6:33 - 6:35and I'm often asked
which one is my favorite, -
6:35 - 6:37but I can't pick one
-
6:37 - 6:43because what I'm most proud of
is how different every image is, -
6:43 - 6:44one from the other.
-
6:44 - 6:48And that's due to the talent
and the diversity -
6:48 - 6:51of all of the artists that contribute.
-
6:52 - 6:53And now, well,
-
6:53 - 6:55now, we're owned by Russia,
-
6:55 - 6:56so --
-
6:57 - 6:58(Laughter)
-
6:58 - 7:00In a rendering by Barry Blitt here,
-
7:00 - 7:06Eustace has become
Eustace Vladimirovich Tilley. -
7:06 - 7:11And the butterfly is none other
than a flabbergasted Donald Trump -
7:11 - 7:12flapping his wings,
-
7:12 - 7:16trying to figure out
how to control the butterfly effect, -
7:16 - 7:22and the famed logo
that was drawn by Rae Irvin in 1925 -
7:22 - 7:23is now in Cyrillic.
-
7:24 - 7:28So, what makes me really excited
about this moment -
7:28 - 7:31is the way that ...
-
7:32 - 7:37You know, free press
is essential to our democracy. -
7:37 - 7:40And we can see from
the sublime to the ridiculous -
7:40 - 7:45that artists can capture what is going on
-
7:45 - 7:47in a way that an artist
-
7:48 - 7:53armed with just India ink and watercolor
-
7:53 - 7:59can capture and enter
into the cultural dialogue. -
7:59 - 8:04It puts those artists
at the center of that culture, -
8:04 - 8:06and that's exactly
where I think they should be. -
8:07 - 8:10Because the main thing we need
right now is a good cartoon. -
8:10 - 8:12Thank you.
-
8:12 - 8:16(Applause)
- Title:
- The stories behind The New Yorker's iconic covers
- Speaker:
- Françoise Mouly
- Description:
-
Meet Françoise Mouly, The New Yorker's art director. For the past 24 years, she's helped decide what appears on the magazine's famous cover, from the black-on-black depiction of the Twin Towers the week after 9/11 to a recent, Russia-influenced riff on the magazine's dandy mascot, Eustace Tilley. In this visual retrospective, Mouly considers how a simple drawing can cut through the torrent of images that we see every day and elegantly capture the feeling (and the sensibility) of a moment in time.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 08:29
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The stories behind The New Yorker's iconic covers | ||
Brian Greene approved English subtitles for The stories behind The New Yorker's iconic covers | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The stories behind The New Yorker's iconic covers | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz accepted English subtitles for The stories behind The New Yorker's iconic covers | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz edited English subtitles for The stories behind The New Yorker's iconic covers | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz edited English subtitles for The stories behind The New Yorker's iconic covers | ||
Leslie Gauthier edited English subtitles for The stories behind The New Yorker's iconic covers | ||
Leslie Gauthier edited English subtitles for The stories behind The New Yorker's iconic covers |