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| My mother Virginia Irvin circa 1945 |
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| V.I. |
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| V.I. |
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| V.I. 's children Christie and Jamie on Hyde st.. S.F. |
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| Monterey Cypress in San Francisco |
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| San Francisco |
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| Contemplating drawing herself |
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| Nasturtiums by V.I. |
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| Contemplating drawing herself again |
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| Virginia in St. Crois sitting near her father's (Rea Irvin) cover for the New Yorker magazine |
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| V.I.'s daughter Molly at the sink |
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| Molly and Guitar |
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| Hee Haw |
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| Cows |
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| Traveling through France with Michael Greig |
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| Earth Woman by V.I. |
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| Adios All Artwork copyrighted |
Hello Molly,
ReplyDeleteI am a writer and a researcher with a passion for early twentieth century magazine cover illustrations. While perusing through vintage periodicals for an article on aging, I came across a 1921 Life cover depicting a dapper elderly gentleman. I was surprised to learn that the artist, your grandfather Rea Irvin, later created the Eustace Tilley figure for The New Yorker. Despite my familiarity with illustration, I had not previously been aware of him. I became enthralled with his stylistic ingenuity and the extensive contributions he made to The New Yorker as well as other publications.
If Rea Irvin’s name was not familiar to me, it certainly is not familiar to the general public. This is something that I feel needs to be corrected. I started writing an article in which I compare the elderly figure on the Life cover to the Eustace Tilley figure. I would be glad to share it with you, as well as my other writings.
Feel free to contact me by email at jsknopf@optimum.net It would also be great if we could chat on the phone. What time is best to reach you?
I look forward to being in touch.
Sincerely,
June Knopf