Rea Irvin

Creator of Eustace Tilly, and The New Yorker’s First Art Editor

Rea Irvin was born on August 26, 1881, in San Francisco, California. Before moving to New York, he studied at The Mark Hopkins Institute of Art; he worked (for free) for The San Francisco Examiner; and he embarked on a career as an illustrator.

By the early 1920s, Irvin was enjoying his new life as a New Yorker. He found regular illustration work, and he became the art editor of Life (Not the Life you’re thinking of. Another Life.) Life was good for Irvin. That is until 1924, when Life fired him.

Luckily, the firing allowed Irvin to focus his efforts, as an advisory board member, to help launch a magazine called, The New Yorker. On February 21, 1925, its first issue was published. Although he wasn’t officially credited as such (typical), Irvin was The New Yorker’s first art editor (Art director. Art supervisor. Take your pick). In fact, he was their first employee.