Amazing magazine covers by one of America's top illustrators
Kadir Nelson has created some amazing paintings for the covers of upcoming issues of The New Yorker and Rolling Stone. Both pieces are sure to become iconic, expressing the frustration, fear, anger, and also the hope and optimism that so many people are feeling in our country today.
Along with the cover, which is entitled "Say Their Names," The New Yorker published an interactive web feature detailing the people and events depicted in the painting. Nelson also shared a work-in-progress photo on his Instagram account.
Earlier today, Rolling Stone published an article and video about Nelson's cover art for their July issue. You can watch the video below.
Nelson also shared some more behind-the-scenes photos on Instagram and announced that prints of the piece, which is titled "American Uprising," are for sale on his store website with a portion of the proceeding going to benefit charities.
Here's a side-by-side look at "American Uprising" and Eugène Delacroix's "Liberty Leading the People" (1830), which inspired it (you can see a photo of it in the upper right-hand corner of his canvas above).
Kadir Nelson has had a very successful 2020. Earlier this year, he received an award for his cover of the February issue of National Geographic.
He also received the 2020 Caldecott Medal and the 2020 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for The Undefeated.
An admirer on social media referred to Kadir Nelson as a modern-day Norman Rockwell. In many ways, I think that's a pretty apt comparison.
I first learned about Nelson several years ago when I was researching the Negro Leagues and came across his book We Are the Ship. I had been considering including one of his pieces in my Masterpiece Monday lineup for next school year (see my recent post), but now I think I have to.
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