Melville House Books

David Levine's famous drawing of Lyndon Johnson, from the New York Review of Books

If the words “New York Review of Books” summon up a visual image for you, it’s probably of a drawing or design element crafted by the inimitable David Levine, the artist who, since the esteemed magazine’s inception in 1962, drew all of its famous, spiky line-drawn portraits of writers and cultural figures. Love him or hate him, his artwork is what gave the NYRB its signature look. And, often enough, the caustic wit of his pen brought in as much attention as any of the writerly contributors or subjects — his brilliant re-rendering of a famous photo of Lyndon Johnson showing off his scar from a gallbladder surgery (wherein Levine drew the scar in the shape of Viet Nam) being a case in point. (LBJ biographer Robert Caro says he is asked more about that depiction “than any other topic.”) But for the last year or so, NYRB readers and the literatti in New York have been buzzing with rumors about Levine — the magazine still features profuse amounts of his artwork, and he’s still listed on the masthead as “staff artist,” but the artwork that’s appearing is old, and supplement by the similar work of another artist, and nothing new from Levine has appeared in its pages since a portrait of novelist Howard Norman in April of 2007. What’s up? Well, as David Margolick observes in this profile from the newest issue of Vanity Fair, the 81-year-old Levine has developed macular degeneration — i.e., he’s going blind. But he’s not blind yet, and Margolick asks if the artist who “gave the New York Review of Books its visual punch” is getting a raw deal from the magazine. NYRB editor Bob Silvers says only, “I think of him as someone who’s done marvelous things for us and might do some again,” prompting Margolick to ask, “Now that the greatest caricaturist of the late 20th century is going blind, is he owed more than a fond farewell?”

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.