Blown Covers: New Yorker Covers You Were Never Meant to See by Françoise Mouly

Blown Covers: New Yorker Covers You Were Never Meant to See Reviews

• 
  Emily

  This book's sub-title misleads on two counts. Firstly there's no indication that the focus is narrowly on covers of the last decade and a half (the period of time that the author, Françoise Mouly, has been art editor of The New Yorker). Secondly, and more importantly, it feels like roughly half the covers reproduced here are actually the ones we did see, that in fact appeared on the newsstands, and in some cases caused great controversy. And there's a certain self-congratulatory tone about having provoked controversy that I didn't warm to. This book made me realize that I really don't care for the present-day style of New Yorker covers: edgy, ironic jokey images relating to current events. I find myself more in tune with the sentiments of William Shawn, a New Yorker editor of the past, quoted here by Mouly:
  
  "We have fewer covers today that have humor than we did years ago. They tend to be more aesthetic....Sometimes it's just a still-life of flowers or a plant. It's not supposed to be spectacular. When it appears on a newstand, it's not supposed to stand out. It's a restful change from all the other covers, I'd say."
  
  That being said, I do think Mouly and her team got the post 9/11 cover (also reproduced here) exactly right. I remember being very moved by it.
  
  
• 
  Ray Knickmeyer

  Other reviewers are right that this feels a little misnamed. Most of the featured covers are ones that did make it all the way to the published edition. Still, I really liked getting to see some of the rough sketches for those, as well as the ones that didn't make it in. It's neat to get a little peak into the decisions that go on behind the scenes. Wish there'd been more could've-beens though, and also wish there'd been a little more detail around some of the ones that got passed over. Often there was just a sentence explanation for why something was passed on.
• 
  Rita_book

  Very interesting look at the decisions to be made each week by the art editor, the cartoon editor, and the editor-in-chief of The New Yorker, (my favorite magazine). My only quibble with it is that it was too short! I would have liked twice as many examples of controversial and scandalous cover art ideas and suggestions. I would have also liked a more comprehensive look at the history of the cover art--this book really focused just on the magazine's very recent history. Having said that, I recommend this book to anyone who's always wondered, how do they decide what to put on the cover?
• 
  Norma

  There's much more to this book than I expected. Lots of interesting background on the ins and outs of what goes into choosing the weekly covers, and also a glimpse of a few covers that didn't make the final cut, and the reasons why. I've been paying more attention to the New Yorker covers since reading this book, as sometimes I just wasn't paying attention to their possible relevance to current events.
• 
  Stewart Tame

  Very fun! Some of the covers that were never used are laugh out loud funny. Some are no more than sketches. Others are fully painted and rendered. There are also plenty of covers that WERE used, and Mouly does an excellent job of briefly recapping the events surrounding each so that readers can better understand why a particular cover was used or not. The New Yorker has an impressive array of talent at its disposal, and it's nice to get this glimpse of the creative process at work.
• 
  Karen

  Actually a lot of the book talks about covers that we did see/were published. Then, the ones that weren't published aren't even that excellent/shocking.
  
  I do think Francoise Mouly is generally awesome though, love Raw/Toon/Little Lit, etc. This book was just kind of underwhelming.
• 
  Emilia P

  Uhhhh yeah. I guess it made me reflect on politics and how futile and repetitive they are? And how I wish I was reading the New Yorker, like, always. But yeah, it was kind of confusingly laid out and just ok. I'd rather just read that big compendium of New Yorker cartoons my grandpa has.
• 
  Dale

  This is all probably more interesting to artists and graphic designers, and to New Yorker diehards, than it is to the rest of us. Don't get me wrong, it's fun to see the cover ideas and the rough sketches.
  
  The one rejected cover that I liked the most was the Mentos Coke cartoon by Barry Blitt.
• 
  Mary

  Given the tragic assignations in Paris last week this was a timely read. These are the covers which were judged to be too over the top to be on the cover of the New Yorker. I'm grateful that at least one publication still uses cartoons to convey ideas.
• 
  Bryan

  The rejected covers in this book are sometimes fascinating and sometimes baffling, but the stories behind them are what is most fascinating about this book. It's also amazing how differently people view the same piece of art.
• 
  Jim

  A nice collection of unused covers with explanations and commentary. Would be a great book for artists in magazine trade. Enjoyed seeing how some ideas are turned into covers.
• 
  G

  Lots of Barry Blitt (not that there's anything wrong with that)!
• 
  Eric

  A must read for any New Yorker fan. Makes one think how hard it must be for the editors to choose just one cover to run every week...
• 
  Barbara

  Interesting. Being a left coaster (happily! morphed from midwesterner)I suspect the book is more intriguing for east coast folks.
• 
  Lizzie

  The stories behind New Yorker covers that did or didn't make the final cut, for various reasons. Enjoyable but not terrific. I probably shouldn’t have bought this and am not sure if I’ll keep it.
• 
  McNevin Hayes

  Wonderful & inspiring
  
  If only there were more. Brilliant. Why do I have to add 14 more words? That is truly absurd. Jeezus.
• 
  Steve

  Slim and self-aggrandizing.
• 
  Another

  a bit disappointing - too much writing, not enough covers.