A review of At Wit's End: Cartoonists of the New Yorker
“I just want to do funny drawings.” –Jack Ziegler
Now and then a book comes out that is a labor of love by so many luminaries that it boggles the mind.
At Wit's End is a tour de force. I did not want it to end. It is a solidly-produced book, and for good reason. It has built-to-last binding and pages printed on a nice, smooth, semi-matte cover stock.
Feast on the photography. Feast on the 'toons. Feast on the writing. Feast on the design.
The stellar creatives who created this book are Alen MacWeeney (photographs), Michael Maslin (words), Bob Ciano (art direction and design), plus the remarkable 52 cartoonists that are profiled.
There needs to be more volumes of this book. The New Yorker has published over 700 cartoonists, and a current pool of 150 from around the globe.
Here are some other reasons to read this book: it is a must-have for anyone who loves editorial cartoons; it is an inspiring and candid peek into each cartoonist’s life; it is as entertaining as it is informative; it has luscious and candid black-and-white photography; it has spacious double-truck layouts with judicious use of 4-color spots; it is arranged alphabetically by each artist’s last name, making it easy to look up each one.
In the acknowledgments we learn that the idea for this book dates back to 1979 when Bob Ciano assigned Alen MacWeeney to photograph five New Yorker cartoonists for Esquire magazine. Alen continued photographing New Yorker cartoonists for another 43 years! This book is a testament to the dedication and brilliance of everyone involved in creating it.
Links:
Ink Spill https://michaelmaslin.com/
The Cartoon Bank https://cartoonbank.com/
CartoonStock https://www.cartoonstock.com/collections
Quotes:
“…in truth, they work for themselves.”
“…the grand New Yorker tradition of delivering a subtly camouflaged message.”
“…James Stevenson [is] one of the magazine’s middle-period masters of cartoons ripped from the headlines.”
“Jack [Ziegler] is the Godfather of contemporary New Yorker cartoonists… [he] injected an underground comix sensibility into the magazine’s DNA…[his] cartoons [were] steeped in contemporary popular culture.”
I also learned a couple of cool terms:
A quipster is a person who makes witty remarks “to ease the strain of criticism.”
A trope is a figurative or metaphorical use of a word or expression.
Here is a gallery of selected spreads:
