How Artist Kara Walker and the ‘New Yorker’ Teamed Up to Pull Off a Poignant Cover Honoring Toni Morrison in Less Than 24 Hours

As the world remembers the late author Toni Morrison, who died
on Monday at the age of 88, an especially fitting tribute to the
celebrated writer and chronicler of the African American experience
has arrived from artist Kara Walker.

A new portrait of Morrison by the
artist, titled Quiet as It’s Kept, after a line
from The Bluest Eye, the author’s debut novel, will
grace the cover of next week’s issue of the New
Yorker. The magazine unveiled a sneak peek at the cover on
Twitter this morning,
sharing a few thoughts from Walker about the creative process for
the piece, along with some of her preparatory artworks, on its
website.

Morrison, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993—the
first African American woman to do so—was the author of 11 novels
including Beloved (1987), Song of
Solomon (1977), and A Mercy (2008). She died at
New York’s Montefiore Medical Center from complications of
pneumonia, according to her publisher, Alfred A. Knopf.

“We had for this week planned a very nice summer
cover,” New
Yorker art editor Françoise Mouly told artnet News.
Following the events of this past weekend, the magazine’s editor
David Remnick considered a cover responding to the double mass
shooting in Dayton and El Paso, before settling on Morrison. “We
seldom do covers for writers,” Mouly added, “but Toni holds a
special place in our culture. She’s really a beacon, and by her
words and by her deeds was very much a force for good. It seemed
right to memorialize her.”

The project with Walker came together quickly, with Mouly
reaching out to the artist on Tuesday morning, shortly after
news of Morrison’s death became public. Walker’s work, with its
focus on the historical struggles and stories of African American
people and themes of sexual violence, race, and gender, dovetailed
nicely with Morrison’s literary oeuvre. The artist also already had
a relationship with the magazine, which published one of her
artworks in 2017 and put her work on  the cover back in 2007 honoring the
second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Mouly reached out and caught Walker on her way back from a trip
to London, where she was working on the 2019 Hyundai Commission
for the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall. “She actually was in the midst
of holding a private vigil, dealing with personally, emotionally,
taking in the news [of Morrison’s death],” said Mouly.

Walker warned her that the magazine should have a backup image
ready, but agreed to give it a shot. The artist got to work
immediately, keeping Mouly abreast of her progress with photos
throughout the day.

“I’ve worked with so many artists, but I’ve seldom experienced
such an ebullient, rich, and massively productive creative
process,” said Mouly, who was hired as the magazine’s art editor by
Tina Brown back in 1993. “Sometimes artists are coy and shy
about their sketches, but she very generously let me share
them.”

By the end of the day, Walker was exhausted, but the design was
finalized. After attempts in watercolor, pastel, and clay, Walker
settled on her signature medium, the black cut-paper silhouette, to
depict Morrison’s profile.

“The goal for both of us was not just a resemblance but
something that emotionally evokes her person, because Morrison is
deeply complex. [The artwork] works in a cathartic way for the
artist and the viewer and the reader,” said Mouly. “I’m very
grateful that Kara was willing to put herself through this
process.”

In 2015, Walker reviewed Morrison’s last book, God Help
the Child, for the New York
Times. The novel was not without its shortcomings, to
Walker’s mind, but she still waxed poetic about Morrison’s
evocative writing, and the author’s use of a “paintbrush” in her
masterful practice of the “slow, tender, dangerous art of
storytelling.”

Though the two women only met once, in passing at the opera at
New York’s Lincoln Center, the author and her work was a source of
inspiration for the artist. “Through her work and words,” Walker
told the New Yorker,
“[Morrison] became something like a muse, teacher, mother,
clairvoyant, and judge.”

The artist’s respect and admiration comes across clearly in the
cut paper portrait. “It’s an ode,” said Mouly, “to the spirit of
two very strong women who are very inspiring each in their own
way.”

The post How Artist Kara Walker and the ‘New Yorker’ Teamed
Up to Pull Off a Poignant Cover Honoring Toni Morrison in Less Than
24 Hours appeared first on artnet News.