-
Not Synced
So 24 years ago,
-
Not Synced
I was brought to the New Yorker
as Art Editor to rejuvinate
-
Not Synced
what had by then become
a somewhat stayed institution,
-
Not Synced
and to bring in new artists
-
Not Synced
and to try to bring the magazine
from its ivory tower
-
Not Synced
into engaging with its time.
-
Not Synced
And it was just the right
thing for me to do
-
Not Synced
because I've always been captivated
by how an image can --
-
Not Synced
a simple drawing --
-
Not Synced
can cut through the torrent of images
that we see every single day.
-
Not Synced
How it can capture a moment,
-
Not Synced
how it can crystallize a social event
or a complex event
-
Not Synced
in a way that a lot of words
wouldn't be able to do,
-
Not Synced
and reduce it to its essence
and turn it into a cartoon.
-
Not Synced
So I went to the library
-
Not Synced
and I looked at the first cover
drawn by Ray Irvin in 1925 --
-
Not Synced
a dandy looking at a butterfly
with his monocle,
-
Not Synced
and we call it, "Used to ... "
-
Not Synced
And I realized that as the magazine
had become known for its well --
-
Not Synced
in-depth research and long reports,
-
Not Synced
some of the humor had gotten
lost along the way,
-
Not Synced
because now often [...]
was seen as hoity dandy,
-
Not Synced
but in fact,
-
Not Synced
in 1925,
-
Not Synced
when Ray Irvin first drew this image,
-
Not Synced
he did it as part of the humor magazine
to amuse the use of the era,
-
Not Synced
which was the flappers
of the roaring '20s.
-
Not Synced
And in the library I found the images
that really captured the zeitgeist
-
Not Synced
of the Great Depression.
-
Not Synced
And it showed us not just
how people dressed
-
Not Synced
or what the cars looked like,
-
Not Synced
but also what made them laugh,
-
Not Synced
what their prejudices were,
-
Not Synced
and you really got a sense of what
it felt like to be alive in the '30s.
-
Not Synced
So I called on contemporary artists
such as Adriane .....
-
Not Synced
I often call on narrative artists,
-
Not Synced
cartoonists,
-
Not Synced
children's book authors,
-
Not Synced
and I give them themes such as,
-
Not Synced
you know, what it's like
to be in the subway,
-
Not Synced
or Valentine's Day,
-
Not Synced
and they send me sketches.
-
Not Synced
Once the sketches are approved
by the editor David Remnick,
-
Not Synced
it's a go.
-
Not Synced
I love the way those images are actually
not telling you what to think,
-
Not Synced
but they do make you think,
-
Not Synced
because the artist is actually --
-
Not Synced
it's almost a puzzle --
-
Not Synced
the artist is drawing the dots,
-
Not Synced
and you the reader
have to complete the picture.
-
Not Synced
So to get this image on the left
by Anita Kuntz,
-
Not Synced
or the one on right by Tomar Atica,
-
Not Synced
you have to play spot the differences,
-
Not Synced
and it is something that --
-
Not Synced
it's really exciting to see
how the engagement with the reader
-
Not Synced
how those images really capture --
-
Not Synced
play with the stereotypes,
-
Not Synced
but when you get it,
-
Not Synced
it rearranges the stereotypes
that are in your head.
-
Not Synced
The images don't just have to show people,
-
Not Synced
sometimes it can be a feeling.
-
Not Synced
Right after September 11th,
-
Not Synced
I was at a point --
-
Not Synced
like everybody else,
-
Not Synced
where I really didn't know how
to deal with what we were going though,
-
Not Synced
and I felt that no image could
capture this moment,
-
Not Synced
and I wanted to just do a black cover,
-
Not Synced
like no cover.
-
Not Synced
And I talked to my husband,
-
Not Synced
cartoonist Art Spiegelman,
-
Not Synced
and I mentioned to him
that I was going to propose that,
-
Not Synced
and he said, "If you're going
to do a black cover,
-
Not Synced
then why don't you do a silhouette
of the Twin Towers,
-
Not Synced
black on black?"
-
Not Synced
And I sat down to draw this,
-
Not Synced
and as soon as I saw it,
-
Not Synced
a shiver ran down my spine
-
Not Synced
and I realized that in this refusal
to make an image,
-
Not Synced
we had found a way to capture loss
-
Not Synced
and mourning
-
Not Synced
and absence.
-
Not Synced
It's been a profound thing
that I learned in the process --
-
Not Synced
that sometimes some of the images
that say the most
-
Not Synced
do it with the most spare means.
-
Not Synced
And a simple image can speak volumes.
-
Not Synced
So this is the image
that we published by Bob Stack
-
Not Synced
right after the election of Barack Obama,
-
Not Synced
and captured an historic moment.
-
Not Synced
But we can't really plan for this,
-
Not Synced
because in order to do this,
-
Not Synced
we have to let the artist experience
the emotions that we all feel
-
Not Synced
when that is happening.
-
Not Synced
So back in November 2016,
-
Not Synced
during the election last year,
-
Not Synced
the only image that we
could publish was this,
-
Not Synced
which was on the stand on the week
that everybody voted.
-
Not Synced
(Laughter)
-
Not Synced
Because we knew somebody would feel this --
-
Not Synced
(Laugther)
-
Not Synced
when the result of the election
was announced.
-
Not Synced
And when we found out the result,
-
Not Synced
we really were at a loss,
-
Not Synced
and this is the image that was sent
by Bob Stack again,
-
Not Synced
and that really hit a chord.
-
Not Synced
And again,
-
Not Synced
we can't really figure out what's
going to come next,
-
Not Synced
but here it felt like we didn't
know how to move forward,
-
Not Synced
but we did move forward,
-
Not Synced
and this is the image that we published
after Donald Trump's election,
-
Not Synced
and at the time of the Women's March
-
Not Synced
all over the US.
-
Not Synced
So over those 24 years,
-
Not Synced
I have seen over 1,000 images
come to life week after week,
-
Not Synced
and I'm often asked which
on is my favorite,
-
Not Synced
but I can't pick one
-
Not Synced
because what I'm most proud of
is how different every image is,
-
Not Synced
one from the other.
-
Not Synced
And that's due to the talent
and the diversity
-
Not Synced
of all of the artists that contribute.
-
Not Synced
And now,
-
Not Synced
well,
-
Not Synced
now, we're owned by Russia,
-
Not Synced
so --
-
Not Synced
(Laughter)
-
Not Synced
In a rendering by Barry Blitt here,
-
Not Synced
Eustis has become Eustis Vladmir ...
-
Not Synced
so the butterfly is nonother than
a flabbergasted Donald Trump
-
Not Synced
flapping his wings,
-
Not Synced
trying to figure out how to control
the butterfly effect,
-
Not Synced
and the famed logo that was drawn
by Ray Irving in 1925
-
Not Synced
is not in syrillic.
-
Not Synced
So what makes me really excited
about this moment
-
Not Synced
is the way that a free press
is essential to our democracy,
-
Not Synced
and we can see from
the sublime to the ridiculous
-
Not Synced
that artists can capture what is going on
-
Not Synced
in a way that an artist armed with just
india ink and watercolor
-
Not Synced
can capture and enter into
the cultural dialogue.
-
Not Synced
And it puts those artsits
at the center of that culture,
-
Not Synced
and that's exactly where
I think they should be,
-
Not Synced
because the main thing we need
right now is a good cartoon.
-
Not Synced
Thank you.
-
Not Synced
(Applause)