The New Yorker covers: February 14, 1931

Over the years, there have been many magazines whose covers have featured the work of highly talented artists and illustrators. But probably no magazine has had more varied and memorable covers, over a longer period of time, than The New Yorker, which was founded in 1925.

Gardner Rea
(covers untitled until February 1993)

And now, a few words from . . . Pierre-Marc-Gaston de Lévis

It is easier to judge the mind of a man by his questions rather than his answers.

"What is art but a way of seeing?" Saul Bellow

"Breezy Day, Gloucester, Massachusetts," 1915, John French Sloan

Movie Posters, 2024: Two adults, please, and a large popcorn!

Today in the history of the American comic strip: April 2

American cartoonists and writers may not have invented the comic strip, but some argue that the comics, as we know them today, are an American creation. Clearly, the United States has played an outsize role in the development of this underappreciated art form.

4.2.1988: Winnie the Pooh, a strip based on the characters created by A.A. Milne, ends its decade-long run.

4.2.2001: Jef Mallett’s Frazz debuts. The strip centers on a school custodian, Edwin "Frazz" Frazier, and the students with whom he interacts.

Frazz

Most of the information listed here from one day to the next comes from two online sites -- Wikipedia, and Don Markstein's Toonopedia -- as well as 100 Years of American Newspaper Comics, edited by Maurice Horn. Note that my focus is on American newspaper comic strips (and the occasional foreign strip that gained popularity in the United States). Thus, comic books and exclusively online comics are not included here.

The birth of an artist: April 2

Max Ernst
April 2, 1891

Maria Sibylla Merian
April 2, 1647

William Holman Hunt
April 2, 1827

Albert Franck
April 2, 1899

The New Yorker covers: August 20, 1927

Over the years, there have been many magazines whose covers have featured the work of highly talented artists and illustrators. But probably no magazine has had more varied and memorable covers, over a longer period of time, than The New Yorker, which was founded in 1925.

Helen E. Hokinson
(covers untitled until February 1993)