The magazine is known for its illustrated and often topical covers. , only two covers have featured photography.
"View of the World" cover Saul Steinberg created 85 covers and 642 internal drawings and illustrations for the magazine. His most famous work is probably the cover for issue March 29, 1976, featuring an illustration, most often called "View of the World from
9th Avenue", sometimes called "A Parochial New Yorker's View of the World" or "A New Yorker's View of the World", which depicts a map of the world as seen by self-absorbed New Yorkers. The illustration is split in two, with the bottom half showing Manhattan's 9th Avenue, 10th Avenue, and the
Hudson River, and the top half depicting the rest of the world. The rest of the US is the size of the three New York City blocks and is drawn as a square, with a thin brown strip along the Hudson representing "
Jersey", the names of five cities (Los Angeles; Washington, D.C.;
Las Vegas;
Kansas City; and Chicago) and three states (
Texas,
Utah, and
Nebraska) scattered among a few rocks for the U.S. beyond New Jersey. The Pacific Ocean, perhaps half again as wide as the Hudson, separates the US from three flattened land masses labeled China, Japan and Russia. The illustration—depicting New Yorkers' self-image of their place in the world, or perhaps outsiders' view of New Yorkers' self-image—inspired many similar works, including the poster for the 1984 film
Moscow on the Hudson; that movie poster led to a lawsuit,
Steinberg v. Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., 663 F. Supp. 706 (
S.D.N.Y. 1987), which held that
Columbia Pictures violated the
copyright that Steinberg held. The cover was later satirized by
Barry Blitt for the cover of
The New Yorker on October 6, 2008, featuring
Sarah Palin looking out of her window seeing only Alaska, with Russia in the far background. The cover of the March 21, 2009, issue of
The Economist, titled "How China sees the World", is an homage to Steinberg, depicting the viewpoint from Beijing's
Chang'an Avenue instead of Manhattan.
9/11 Hired by Tina Brown in 1992,
Art Spiegelman worked for
The New Yorker for ten years, but resigned a few months after the
September 11 terrorist attacks. Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly received wide acclaim for their cover for the issue from September 24, 2001; it was voted as being among the top ten magazine covers of the past 40 years by the American Society of Magazine Editors: The cover appears to be totally black, but upon close examination it reveals the silhouettes of the
World Trade Center towers in a darker shade of black. In some situations, the ghost images become visible only when the magazine is tilted toward a light source. In September 2004, Spiegelman reprised the image on the cover of his book
In the Shadow of No Towers.
"New Yorkistan" In December 2001, the magazine printed a cover by
Maira Kalman and
Rick Meyerowitz showing a map of New York in which neighborhoods are labeled with humorous names reminiscent of Middle Eastern and Central Asian place names and referencing the neighborhood's real name or characteristics (e.g., "Fuhgeddabouditstan", "Botoxia"). The cover had cultural resonance in the wake of September 11, and became a popular print and poster.
Controversial covers Crown Heights in 1993 For the 1993
Valentine's Day issue, the cover by Spiegelman depicted a black woman and a
Hasidic Jewish man kissing, referencing the
Crown Heights riot of 1991. The cover was criticized by black and Jewish observers. Jack Salzman and
Cornel West called reaction to the cover the magazine's "first national controversy".
2008 Obama cover satire and controversy On July 21, 2008, "The Politics of Fear", a cartoon by
Barry Blitt, was featured on the cover of
The New Yorker, depicting then presumptive
Democratic presidential nominee
Barack Obama in the
turban and
shalwar kameez typical of many
Muslims,
fist bumping with his wife,
Michelle, portrayed with an
Afro and wearing
camouflage trousers with an
assault rifle slung over her back. They are standing in the
Oval Office, with a portrait of
Osama bin Laden hanging on the wall and an American
flag burning in the fireplace. This parody was inspired by
Fox News host
E. D. Hill's paraphrase of an internet comment that asked whether a gesture the Obamas made was a "terrorist fist jab". Later, Hill's contract was not renewed. Many
New Yorker readers saw the image as a lampoon of "The Politics of Fear", its title. Some Obama supporters, as well as his presumptive
Republican opponent,
John McCain, accused the magazine of publishing an incendiary cartoon whose irony could be lost on some readers. Editor David Remnick felt the image's obvious excesses rebuffed the concern it could be misunderstood. "The intent of the cover", he said, "is to satirize the vicious and racist attacks and rumors and misconceptions about the Obamas that have been floating around in the
blogosphere and are reflected in public opinion polls. What we set out to do was to throw all these images together, which are all over the top and to shine a kind of harsh light on them, to satirize them." Obama said, "Well, I know it was
The New Yorkers attempt at satire... I don't think they were entirely successful". He pointed to his efforts to debunk the allegations the cover depicted, saying that the allegations were "actually an insult against Muslim-Americans".
The Daily Show continued
The New Yorker cover's argument about Obama stereotypes with a piece showcasing clips containing such stereotypes culled from legitimate news sources. On October 3, 2008,
Entertainment Weekly magazine published a parody of the cover, featuring
Jon Stewart as Barack and
Stephen Colbert as Michelle.
New Yorker covers are sometimes unrelated to the contents, or only tangentially related. The article about Obama in the issue with Blitt's cover did not discuss the attacks and rumors, but rather Obama's career. The magazine later endorsed Obama for president.
2013 Bert and Ernie cover On July 8, 2013,
The New Yorker featured a cover image by artist Jack Hunter, titled "Moment of Joy", depicting
Sesame Street characters
Bert and Ernie; the issue in particular covered the Supreme Court decisions on the
Defense of Marriage Act and
California Proposition 8. Bert and Ernie have long been rumored in urban legend to be romantic partners, but
Sesame Workshop has denied this, saying they are merely "puppets" and have no sexual orientation.
Slate criticized the cover, which shows Ernie leaning on Bert's shoulder as they watch a television with the Supreme Court justices on the screen, saying, "it's a terrible way to commemorate a major civil-rights victory for gay and lesbian couples".
The Huffington Post, meanwhile, said it was "one of [the magazine's] most awesome covers of all time".
2023 "Race for Office" cover The cover from October 2, 2023, titled "The Race for Office", depicts top politicians—
Donald Trump,
Mitch McConnell,
Nancy Pelosi, and
Joe Biden—running the titular race for office with walkers. Many had questioned the mental and physical states of these and other older politicians, particularly those who have run for reelection. While many acknowledged the cover as satirizing this issue, others criticized the "ableism and ageism" of mocking older people and those who use walkers.
The New Yorker said the cover "portrays the irony and absurdity of the advanced-age politicians currently vying for our top offices". == Style ==