Paris (France) (AFP) – Some of them have made history: the cartoon covers of the famous American magazine New Yorker are in the spotlight in France with the release of a collection of 600 of them and an exhibition in a gallery in Paris.

Published on: 08/11/2026 - 10:08 Modified on: 08/11/2026 - 10:14

“The New Yorker is undoubtedly the magazine in the world best known for its covers,” Françoise Mouly, the weekly's artistic director since 1993, told AFP.

“Some of them have become iconic in the United States but also in many countries, particularly in Europe. They are collected, displayed on walls…” adds the 71-year-old Frenchwoman, who has lived in New York since the 1970s.

In the book "The New Yorker, a century of covers" (Citadelles and Mazenod editions), Françoise Mouly traces the history of these covers since the creation of the magazine of investigations, reports and literary news in 1925.

Since then, the New Yorker has featured an artist's drawing on its front page without a title or explanation. “The image must stand on its own and be understandable to the reader,” she explains.

Most of the time, this drawing is not linked to current events: it sketches daily life in New York, characters or a humorous scene.

But certain events made headlines, such as the September 11, 2001 attacks with a drawing representing the World Trade Center towers standing against an opaque black sky, while Donald Trump was caricatured on several occasions.

The New Yorker has revealed and employed many American and foreign illustrators, such as Charles Addams, Saul Steinberg and Art Spiegelman.

The Frenchman Sempé alone designed 114 covers between 1978 and 2019, before his death in 2022. “His role was immense. He did not speak English well but he felt at home in New York and knew how to capture the soul of the city,” recalls Françoise Mouly.

Thanks to readers' attachment to the covers, the New Yorker continues to sell both in print and digitally. And, for the artistic director, “there is no question of AI replacing artists to design a cover”.

The Martel gallery, in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, is exhibiting the covers of 13 artists until January 16.

© 2026 AFP

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