The New Yorker covers: November 15, 2010

Some of the politicians who have appeared on older covers of The New Yorker are cartoonish fabrications making campaign swings or holding news conferences. In recent years, though, real-life candidates and officeholders have made the cover, often in an unflattering light.

Barry Blitt
"Bumped"

And now, a few words from . . . Alex Katz

I can't think of anything more exciting than the surface of things. Just appearance.

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

"The House in Giverny," ca. 1912, Frederick Carl Frieseke

Movie Posters, 1969: Two adults, please, and a large popcorn!

Today in the history of the American comic strip: May 4

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.

5.4.1902: Richard F. Outcault introduces Buster Brown in the New York Herald. Buster, his girlfriend Mary Jane, and his dog Tige, a Pit Bull Terrier, were well-known in the early 20th century. 

5.4.1919: Carl Ed’s Harold Teen debuts as a Sunday strip under the title The Love Life of Harold Teen. The comic ran for four decades.

Buster Brown

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 New Yorker covers: September 18, 2000

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.

Michael Roberts
"Slaves to Fashion"

And now, a few words from . . . Jim Gaffigan

I’ve been busy. What are we unnecessarily outraged about now?

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

"The Immigrant," 1921, Regina Seiden

Movie Posters, 1973: Two adults, please, and a large popcorn!