RICK MEYEROWITZ and MAIRA KALMAN. "New Yorkistan." One of the final sketches for the iconic cover of The New Yorker, published December 10, 2001. Pen, ink, and watercolor on paper. 292x254 mm; 11 1/2x10 inches, on 16 1/2x13-inch sheet. Signed. Accompanied by a signed poster of the image.
A final version of an iconic New Yorker cover, this sketch is an excellent example of the fun and spontaneity that defines the unique collaborative process of Kalman and Meyerowitz. Eleven earlier sketches are housed at the Library of Congress. New Yorkistan was one of the first comedic responses to the events of 9/11. The writer and critic Sarah Boxer remarked that it stood as the successor to Saul Steinberg's famous and unforgettable New York-centric "View of the World from 9th Avenue." By "Afghanistanizing" the various neighborhoods of New York City in an amalgam of Yiddish, Persian and vernacular slang, every local could laugh and identify with New Yorkistan, bond over it, and realize that they, too, were "made up of tribes with a bunch of exotic names that mean nothing to outsiders." (The New York Times, December 8, 2001). According to the American Society of Magazine Editors, New Yorkistan is listed as number 14 of the top 40 magazine covers of the past 40 years. Later reproduced in countless forms, the issue with this cover sold out within days and it was, to date, the best-selling issue of The New Yorker in history.
