Introduction

What is The New Yorker? I know it’s a great magazine and that it’s a tremendous source of pleasure in my life. But what exactly is it? This blog’s premise is that The New Yorker is a work of art, as worthy of comment and analysis as, say, Keats’s “Ode on a Grecian Urn.” Each week I review one or more aspects of the magazine’s latest issue. I suppose it’s possible to describe and analyze an entire issue, but I prefer to keep my reviews brief, and so I usually focus on just one or two pieces, to explore in each the signature style of its author. A piece by Nick Paumgarten is not like a piece by Jill Lepore, and neither is like a piece by Ian Frazier. One could not mistake Collins for Seabrook, or Bilger for Galchen, or Mogelson for Kolbert. Each has found a style, and it is that style that I respond to as I read, and want to understand and describe.

Saturday, December 25, 2021

Best of 2021: Illustrations












Here are my favorite New Yorker illustrations of 2021: 

1. Sam Alden's illustration for Ann Patchett's "Flight Plan," August 2, 2021 (see above);

2. Andrea Ventura's portrait of Tom Stoppard for Anthony Lane's "O Lucky Man!" (March 1, 2021);










3. Javi Aznarez's illustration for Ruth Franklin's "Into the Void" (September 13, 2021);












4. Cristiana Couceiro's illustration for Joshua Yaffa's "Five-Month Plan" (February 8, 2021);












5. Javier Jaén’s illustration for Gary Shteyngart’s “My Gentile Region” (October 11, 2021);








6. Pola Maneli's portrait of Pharoah Sanders for Hua Hsu's "The New Thing" (March 29, 2021);












7. Golden Cosmos’s illustration for Daniel Alarcón’s “The Collapse of Arecibo” (April 5, 2021);







8. Jorge Colombo's illustration for Rivka Galchen's "Better Than a Balloon" (February 15 & 22, 2021);











9. Toma Vagner's illustration for Alex Ross's "Grinding Bass" (December 13, 2021);











10. Cecilia Carstedt's portrait of Adele for Carrie Battan's "Imperfect Union" (December 6, 2021).




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