The vast majority of New Yorker covers over the magazine’s 100-year history have been illustrations. Only two issues broke that mold: a William Wegman portrait of a Weimaraner on the February 20 and 28, 2000, cover, and, more recently, a Cindy Sherman self-portrait on the September 1 and 8, 2025, issue. Both depicted the subjects as variations on the magazine’s beloved Eustace Tilley mascot.
The New Yorker has now tripled that figure by hiring six contemporary photographers—Marilyn Minter, Awol Erizku, Ryan McGinley, Collier Schorr, Camila Falquez, and Alex Prager—to reimagine historical illustrated covers via celebrity portraits, in honor of the magazine’s centennial.
Erizku rose to fame in 2017 when Beyoncé and Jay-Z hired him to shoot their pregnancy announcement photo for Instagram. For the New Yorker, he photographed filmmaker and New York icon Spike Lee as Eustace Tilley, wearing a Louis Vuitton suit and holding up a camera in place of the character’s trademark monocle.
Minter’s slick, steamy close-ups of makeup-smeared faces, mouths full of jewelry, and faceted heels are immediately recognizable. She has painted several famous figures, including Gloria Steinem, Lady Gaga, and Miley Cyrus. For the anniversary issue, Minter drew on Barbara Shermund’s October 3, 1925, cover of a woman in profile with swirling pink hair and holding cymbals. Her version is a faithful re-creation, showing the red-haired actress Sadie Sink with matching accessories, shot through a pane of glass with visible droplets of condensation.
McGinley, a skateboarder-turned-photographer known for documenting New York nightlife, photographed a group of his friends flexing in front of the Fountain of Life monument at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. The inspiration was Charles Saxon’s June 10, 1974, cover of band members in bell-bottoms lounging at the base of a column in Central Park.
Falquez’s cover depicts Broadway and film actress Ariana DeBose in close-up, holding a magnifying glass, in homage to Lorenzo Mattotti’s January 11, 1999, cover Spyglass, itself a nod to Eustace Tilley. Identical twins Sophie and Ellie Thatcher—an actress and an artist, respectively—were shot by Prager. The sisters appear back-to-back in red evening gowns amid a crowd of men in tuxedos smoking cigarettes and cigars. It’s a near replica of Julian de Miskey’s October 18, 1930, cover. Julia Garner (perhaps best known for Inventing Anna, the Netflix series about the infamous grifter Anna Delvey/Sorokin) and Cole Escola (of Oh, Mary! fame) were photographed by Schorr. They appear in sailor garb, recalling Stanley W. Reynolds’s May 29, 1926, cover.
One side effect of viewing the anniversary covers alongside their antecedents is noticing the New Yorker’s price increases over the years. In 1925, the magazine cost 15 cents; by 1974, it was up to 50 cents, and $3 in 1999. If you’re not a subscriber, purchasing any of the anniversary issues by Minter, McGinley, Erizku, Schorr, Prager, or Falquez will now cost $9.99 at the newsstand.
