-
So 24 years ago,
-
I was brought to The New Yorker
-
as art editor
-
to rejuvenate
-
what had by then become
a somewhat staid institution
-
and to bring in new artists
-
and to try to bring the magazine
from its ivory tower
-
into engaging with its time.
-
And it was just
the right thing for me to do
-
because I've always been captivated
by how an image can --
-
a simple drawing --
-
can cut through the torrent of images
that we see every single day.
-
How it can capture a moment,
-
how it can crystallize
a social trend or a complex event
-
in a way that a lot of words
wouldn't be able to do --
-
and reduce it to its essence
and turn it into a cartoon.
-
So I went to the library
-
and I looked at the first cover
drawn by Rea Irvin in 1925 --
-
a dandy looking at a butterfly
through his monocle,
-
and we call it Eustace Tilley.
-
And I realized that
as the magazine had become known
-
for its in-depth research
and long reports,
-
some of the humor
had gotten lost along the way,
-
because now often Eustace Tilley
was seen as a haughty dandy,
-
but in fact, in 1925,
-
when Rea Irvin first drew this image,
-
he did it as part of a humor magazine
-
to amuse the youth of the era,
-
which was the flappers
of the roaring twenties.
-
And in the library,
-
I found the images
that really captured the zeitgeist
-
of the Great Depression.
-
And it showed us
not just how people dressed
-
or what their cars looked like,
-
but also what made them laugh,
-
what their prejudices were.
-
And you really got a sense
-
of what it felt like
to be alive in the '30s.
-
So I called on contemporary artists,
-
such as Adrian Tomine here.
-
I often call on narrative artists --
-
cartoonists, children's book authors --
-
and I give them themes such as,
-
you know, what it's like
to be in the subway,
-
or Valentine's Day,
-
and they send me sketches.
-
And once the sketches
are approved by the editor,
-
David Remnick,
-
it's a go.
-
And I love the way
-
those images are actually
not telling you what to think.
-
But they do make you think,
-
because the artist is actually --
-
it's almost a puzzle;
-
the artist is drawing the dots,
-
and you, the reader,
have to complete the picture.
-
So to get this image
on the left by Anita Kunz,
-
or the one on right by Tomer Hanuka,
-
you have to play spot the differences.
-
And it is something that ...
-
It's really exciting to see
-
how the engagement with the reader ...
-
how those images really capture --
-
play with the stereotypes.
-
But when you get it,
-
it rearranges the stereotypes
that are in your head.
-
But the images don't
just have to show people,
-
sometimes it can be a feeling.
-
Right after September 11,
-
I was at a point,
-
like everybody else,
-
where I really didn't know how to deal
with what we were going through,
-
and I felt that no image
could capture this moment,
-
and I wanted to just do a black cover,
-
like no cover.
-
And I talked to my husband,
cartoonist Art Spiegelman,
-
and mentioned to him
that I was going to propose that,
-
and he said, "Oh, if you're
going to do a black cover,
-
then why don't you do
the silhouette of the Twin Towers,
-
black on black?"
-
And I sat down to draw this,
-
and as soon as I saw it,
-
a shiver ran down my spine
-
and I realized
-
that in this refusal to make an image,
-
we had found a way to capture loss
-
and mourning
-
and absence.
-
And it's been a profound thing
that I learned in the process --
-
that sometimes some of the images
that say the most
-
do it with the most spare means.
-
And a simple image can speak volumes.
-
So this is the image
that we published by Bob Staake
-
right after the election of Barack Obama,
-
and captured a historic moment.
-
But we can't really plan for this,
-
because in order to do this,
-
we have to let the artist
experience the emotions that we all feel
-
when that is happening.
-
So back in November 2016,
-
during the election last year,
-
the only image that we
could publish was this,
-
which was on the stand
on the week that everybody voted.
-
(Laughter)
-
Because we knew
somebody would feel this --
-
(Laughter)
-
when the result of the election
was announced.
-
And when we found out the result,
-
we really were at a loss,
-
and this is the image
that was sent by Bob Staake again,
-
and that really hit a chord.
-
And again,
-
we can't really figure out
what's going to come next,
-
but here it felt like we didn't
know how to move forward,
-
but we did move forward,
-
and this is the image that we published
after Donald Trump's election
-
and at the time of the Women's March
-
all over the US.
-
So over those 24 years,
-
I have seen over 1,000 images
come to life week after week,
-
and I'm often asked
which one is my favorite,
-
but I can't pick one
-
because what I'm most proud of
is how different every image is,
-
one from the other.
-
And that's due to the talent
and the diversity
-
of all of the artists that contribute.
-
And now, well,
-
now, we're owned by Russia,
-
so --
-
(Laughter)
-
In a rendering by Barry Blitt here,
-
Eustace has become
Eustace Vladimirovich Tilley.
-
And the butterfly is none other
than a flabbergasted Donald Trump
-
flapping his wings,
-
trying to figure out
how to control the butterfly effect,
-
and the famed logo
that was drawn by Rae Irvin in 1925
-
is now in Cyrillic.
-
So, what makes me really excited
about this moment
-
is the way that ...
-
You know, free press
is essential to our democracy.
-
And we can see from
the sublime to the ridiculous
-
that artists can capture what is going on
-
in a way that an artist
-
armed with just India ink and watercolor
-
can capture and enter
into the cultural dialogue.
-
It puts those artists
at the center of that culture,
-
and that's exactly
where I think they should be.
-
Because the main thing we need
right now is a good cartoon.
-
Thank you.
-
(Applause)