So 24 years ago, I was brought to The New Yorker as art editor to rejuvenate what had by then become a somewhat staid institution and to bring in new artists and to try to bring the magazine from its ivory tower into engaging with its time. And it was just the right thing for me to do because I've always been captivated by how an image can — a simple drawing — can cut through the torrent of images that we see every single day. How it can capture a moment, how it can crystallize a social trend or a complex event in a way that a lot of words wouldn't be able to do — and reduce it to its essence and turn it into a cartoon.
﻿24年前， 我加入了《纽约客》 做艺术编辑， 想要带来一点活力 改变当时有点古板的风格 并且引进新的艺术家， 想将这本杂志带出象牙塔， 让它与时俱进。 这对我而言像是注定要做的事， 我总是对图像非常着迷， 因为一幅简单的绘画， 就可以切入我门每天所见的图像洪流， 它是如何能捕捉一个瞬间， 把用语言很难描述清楚的 社会趋势或者复杂事件具像化， 提炼它的本质 并用卡通的形式表现出来。
So I went to the library and I looked at the first cover drawn by Rea Irvin in 1925 — a dandy looking at a butterfly through his monocle, and we call it Eustace Tilley. And I realized that as the magazine had become known for its in-depth research and long reports, some of the humor had gotten lost along the way, because now often Eustace Tilley was seen as a haughty dandy, but in fact, in 1925, when Rea Irvin first drew this image, he did it as part of a humor magazine to amuse the youth of the era, which was the flappers of the roaring twenties. And in the library, I found the images that really captured the zeitgeist of the Great Depression. And it showed us not just how people dressed or what their cars looked like, but also what made them laugh, what their prejudices were. And you really got a sense of what it felt like to be alive in the '30s.
于是我去图书馆， 找到了雷亚·欧文 在1925年所做的第一期封面， 一位时髦男士透过单片眼镜 在观察一只蝴蝶， 我们叫他尤斯塔斯·提利。 我意识到随着杂志 靠深度研究和长篇报道出名后， 这期间它的幽默感慢慢丢失了， 因为现在尤斯塔斯·提利 常常被视为一个傲慢的花花公子， 但实际上，在1925年， 当雷亚·欧文最初创作这幅画的时候， 他是将其作为一本幽默杂志 的封面来画的， 为的是取悦那个年代的年轻人， 他们是咆哮的二十年代的引领者。 在图书馆里， 我找到了一些封面， 它们抓住了大萧条时代 的时代精神。 它展现的不仅仅是人们的穿着打扮， 或他们开的是什么车， 还包括什么会让他们发笑， 他们有什么偏见。 你能真切感受到， 生活在30年代是什么感觉。
So I called on contemporary artists, such as Adrian Tomine here. I often call on narrative artists — cartoonists, children's book authors — and I give them themes such as, you know, what it's like to be in the subway, or Valentine's Day, and they send me sketches. And once the sketches are approved by the editor, David Remnick, it's a go. And I love the way those images are actually not telling you what to think. But they do make you think, because the artist is actually — it's almost a puzzle; the artist is drawing the dots, and you, the reader, have to complete the picture. So to get this image on the left by Anita Kunz, or the one on right by Tomer Hanuka, you have to play spot the differences. And it is something that ... It's really exciting to see how the engagement with the reader ... how those images really capture — play with the stereotypes. But when you get it, it rearranges the stereotypes that are in your head.
于是我邀请当代的画家们， 比如艾德里安·托明。 我经常邀请叙事画家—— 比如卡通画家，儿童书籍作家—— 我给他们选定主题， 比如，在地铁里是什么感觉， 或者过情人节是什么感觉， 他们就会发给我草图。 一旦这些草图被主编—— 大卫·雷姆尼克——审核通过， 就会被采用。 我喜欢这种方式， 这些画并没有告诉你应该如何思考。 但他们会引发你的思索， 因为画家实际上只是—— 就像一幅拼图， 画家只是画出一些点， 而你，每一位读者，要补全这幅画。 因此，想读懂左边这幅， 阿尼塔·昆茨的作品， 或者右边这幅， 托摩尔·阿努卡的作品， 你需要分析他们之间的不同。 而这中间…… 与读者的互动 是非常让人兴奋的事情。 这些画是怎么抓住…… 怎么打破陈规的。 一旦你看懂它的深意， 它会令你耳目一新。
But the images don't just have to show people, sometimes it can be a feeling. Right after September 11, I was at a point, like everybody else, where I really didn't know how to deal with what we were going through, and I felt that no image could capture this moment, and I wanted to just do a black cover, like no cover. And I talked to my husband, cartoonist Art Spiegelman, and mentioned to him that I was going to propose that, and he said, "Oh, if you're going to do a black cover, then why don't you do the silhouette of the Twin Towers, black on black?" And I sat down to draw this, and as soon as I saw it, a shiver ran down my spine and I realized that in this refusal to make an image, we had found a way to capture loss and mourning and absence. And it's been a profound thing that I learned in the process — that sometimes some of the images that say the most do it with the most spare means. And a simple image can speak volumes.
但是图片不仅仅可以展示 有时候它也代表一种情感。 “9·11”发生之后， 我陷入了一种状态， 跟所有人一样， 我不知道该怎么接受所发生的一切， 我感觉没有任何一幅画 能抓住那个瞬间， 我只想做一个全黑的封面， 就像没有封面一样。 我跟我丈夫亚特·斯皮格尔曼聊了一下， 他是一名漫画家， 我告诉他我准备用黑色的封面， 他说，“既然你打算用黑色的封面， 为什么不加上双子塔的轮廓呢， 黑底黑图。” 于是我坐下来开始画， 我第一眼看到它， 就感觉浑身一阵颤栗， 我意识到 我们在这种拒绝描绘图画的过程中 找到了一种捕捉失去 和表达哀痛 以及缺失的方式 在设计过程中，我学到的最深刻的道理是- 最丰富的画面 反而是留白最多的。 看似简单，实则含义很深。
So this is the image that we published by Bob Staake right after the election of Barack Obama, and captured a historic moment. But we can't really plan for this, because in order to do this, we have to let the artist experience the emotions that we all feel when that is happening. So back in November 2016, during the election last year, the only image that we could publish was this, which was on the stand on the week that everybody voted.
而这是副画就是鲍勃·斯塔克 在奥巴马竞选总统之后创作的， 它捕捉到了一个历史时刻。 但我们并不能计划好封面图。 因为为了创作这些画， 我们需要让艺术家体会到 所有人在事件发生时的感受。 再聊回2016年， 去年选举期间， 我们唯一可以选择出版的画是这张， 这是在大家大选投票那一周的态度
(Laughter)
（观众笑）
Because we knew somebody would feel this —
因为我们当竞选结果公布的时候——
(Laughter)
（笑声）
when the result of the election was announced. And when we found out the result, we really were at a loss, and this is the image that was sent by Bob Staake again, and that really hit a chord. And again, we can't really figure out what's going to come next, but here it felt like we didn't know how to move forward, but we did move forward, and this is the image that we published after Donald Trump's election and at the time of the Women's March all over the US.
——有人是这样想的。 而当我们看到竞选结果的时候， 感觉不知所措， 而这幅同样是鲍勃·斯塔克创作的画 触动了我们的心弦。 重申一下 我们并不能真的弄清未来会发生的事情， 虽然大选给我们的感觉是不知道未来如何前进， 但我们确实在进步， 在唐纳德·特朗普大选之后， 全美进行女性大游行时， 我们选了这幅画。
So over those 24 years, I have seen over 1,000 images come to life week after week, and I'm often asked which one is my favorite, but I can't pick one because what I'm most proud of is how different every image is, one from the other. And that's due to the talent and the diversity of all of the artists that contribute.
在过去的24年， 我一周又周地见证了一千多张封面画的诞生， 我经常被要求选一张最喜欢的画， 但是我选不出来。 因为其中任何一幅画都是极具特色， 这是让我最骄傲的。 所有艺术家贡献的天赋与差异 是画作独特的原因。
And now, well, now, we're owned by Russia, so —
而现在 我们国家已经属于俄罗斯了， 所以呢——
(Laughter)
(笑声）
In a rendering by Barry Blitt here, Eustace has become Eustace Vladimirovich Tilley. And the butterfly is none other than a flabbergasted Donald Trump flapping his wings, trying to figure out how to control the butterfly effect, and the famed logo that was drawn by Rae Irvin in 1925 is now in Cyrillic.
在巴里·布利特的提醒下， 尤斯塔斯改为尤斯塔斯·弗拉基米罗维奇·提利。（普京名） 蝴蝶不是别人，正是被吓破胆的唐纳·德特朗普， 煽动着翅膀， 想弄清如何控制蝴蝶效应， 而1925年雷亚·欧文画的著名杂志标题 现在也用西里尔字母替代，（俄语使用的字母）
So, what makes me really excited about this moment is the way that ... You know, free press is essential to our democracy. And we can see from the sublime to the ridiculous that artists can capture what is going on in a way that an artist armed with just India ink and watercolor can capture and enter into the cultural dialogue. It puts those artists at the center of that culture, and that's exactly where I think they should be. Because the main thing we need right now is a good cartoon.
如今让我最激动就是、 就是那种方式—— 总所周知，言论自由是我们民主不可或缺的一块。 我们可以看到不论内容是崇高还是荒谬， 艺术家们都能捕捉当下发生的事情。 他们会拿着水彩和印度制造的墨水， 以某种方式 捕捉并加入文化交流。 这意味着艺术家应该位于文化的中心， 我也认为那就是艺术家的地位。 因为现在我们需要的是好的卡通画作。
Thank you.
谢谢。
(Applause)
（掌声）