What does it mean to edit a cover?

A questa domanda risponde l'art editor del New Yorker, Françoise Mouly, disegnatrice francese che ora vive a York (tra l'altro è la moglie di Art Spiegelman e tra l'altro è stata l'ideatrice della copertina tutta nera dopo l'11 settembre 2001).

Even in the visual field, there are not many editors. There are art directors, but that’s slightly different. Art directors often illustrate a topic that’s given to them—the editor decides whom or what to put on the cover, and then it’s a matter of illustrating that concept or taking a photo of a politician or celebrity. With New Yorker covers, we aren’t usually illustrating a story. Our cover is a work in and of itself.

 

My job is twofold: to generate and collect ideas, and then to work with the artists to make the ideas as clear and effective as possible. Each December, I send out a calendar for the coming year with the hallmark dates: holidays, news events, the Oscars. (Everyone always wants to do the Halloween cover.) The calendar starts a dialogue with dozens of artists ...