Top 10 New Yorker Covers | Maxmedia Creates

by Casandra Hill | Feb 26, 2018 | Top List, Trending

As an artist and graphic designer, The New Yorker is a constant source of inspiration with its cutting edge design. As we create brands here at Maxmedia, we start with captivating logos and like the New Yorker, we strive to dazzle. These are my top ten picks throughout the decades of their publications.

To put it all in perspective, let’s start at the beginning in 1925. The first edition of The New Yorker began with this cover on February 21st with this handsome dandy, Eustace Tilley, peering through his monocle at a butterfly. Throughout the years, there have been many variations of this design including one of my favorites (listed later).

Rea Irvin

Eustice Tilley, 2/21/1925

Barbara Shermund

A Women Tests Out Various Colors of Makeup in the Mirror, 3/18/1939

Barbara Shermund was one of the first women cartoonists at the New Yorker and one of the first inducted into the National Cartoonist Society. She had an uncanny ability to blend all of the frustrations and excitement of womanhood into her adorable illustrations, with just a dash of humor.

Peter Arno

Untitled, 1/1/1944

Peter Arno is one of the most prolific cartoonists for the New Yorker, contributing over 99 covers until his death in 1968. This cover from 1944 shows his love of New York café life, gently mocking the upper-class pretensions, and the freedoms of the Jazz Age. His use of bold color and strong lines are replicated in illustrations even today.

William Steig

Picking Daisies, 08/16/1952

William Steig is the man behind 117 New Yorker covers and over 2,600 drawings, like this one from 1952. He was writing and creating up until his death in 2003. In 1990, he wrote a children’s picture book titled, Skrek!, which was the inspirations from the Dreamwork’s Animations film that we all know and secretly love.

Warren Miller

Untitled, 5/13/1967

Let’s just pause here for a moment and appreciate this adorable goat eating flowers. That’s it!

Eugene Mihaesco

Untitled, 12/27/1976

“I try to plant a stick of dynamite in the very small space between pen and paper.” – Eugene Mihaesco

The glimmering celestial ornaments hanging over the city for 1976 Christmas New Yorker Cover is unique. I find the simplicity makes for a clear and playful design.

Susan Davis

Untitled, 6/13/1983

This iconic New Yorker cover from 1983 reflects Susan Davis’s love of life and the beauty of the land and sea. Her work exudes joy and an expert sense of color, which has made her artwork cherished and distinguishable.

Robert Crumb

Elvis Tilley, 2/21/1994

Robert Crumb is in a class of his own as one of the most influential cartoonists of our time with an outrageous attitude to match. There is a grittiness to his work that appeals to deepest feelings of discomfort, and he would have it no other way. He started out as an underground artist woking on comics and zines. Now this underground weirdo is on the verge of the mainstream with respectable art exhibitions. It goes to show that even an oddball can go places. As one of my favorites, this cover is a play on the original 1925 cover.

Tomer Hanuka

Take the L Train, 4/11/2016

There is no doubt in my mind that you have seen Tomer Hanuka’s work whether from the New Yorker cover on this list, or his many clients including everything from MTV to Aesop Rock. This Israeli Cartoonist captured my attention because of his graphic novel The Divine. His illustrations are incredible and worth outside research if you dig his style.

Roz Chast

Motherboard, 5/8/2017

This one is a personal favorite. Roz Chast’s Motherboard is one of the most unique New Yorker Covers. It is embroidery on muslin, and goes along with a collection of embroidered cartoons. Personally, I have been sewing and crocheting since I was in 4th grade, and I love the ideas branching out from pencil and paper to the world of fabric and thread.

Christoph Neimann

On the Go, 5/16/2016

Well we have made it to the end, and I will leave you with this awesome augmented reality New Yorker cover by Christoph Neimann. In my opinion, it is pretty clear why this cover is awesome. I would say it speaks for itself.

As illustration and art moves to a digital platform, there are more and more possibilities for artists. Do you think blending the two worlds works?

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