Design Matters From the Archive: Barry Blitt

Last week Barry Blitt was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in journalism for editorial cartooning: “For work that skewers the personalities and policies emanating from the Trump White House with deceptively sweet watercolor style and seemingly gentle caricatures.” This interview was recorded in 2017.

For cartoonists and illustrators, there’s no bigger stage than the cover of the New Yorker. Since 1992, Barry Blitt has contributed more than 100 covers and countless illustrations to the magazine. He’s a master of political satire and is fully engaged in the Trump era, with devastating caricatures of the people in power. His most controversial cover, however, came during the 2008 campaign with his illustration of President Obama dressed in Muslim garb fist bumping an armed and afroed Michelle Obama. Barry Blitt’s work has also appeared in many other magazines as well as in the New York Times. The best place to see it is in his magnificent book, titled, simply, Blitt.

Debbie talks to New Yorker celebrated cover artist Barry Blitt about where his ideas come from. “Well you want to have your hand on the page, I mean there’s times I walk around and try to think of things, but three-quarters of the battle is scribbling.”

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