To create the latest T 25 list, of influential magazine covers, we first asked our panelists — Gayle King, the editor at large for Oprah Daily and a co-host of “CBS Mornings”; Adam Moss, the former editor of New York magazine and The New York Times Magazine; Patrick Li, T’s creative director; David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker; and Martha Rosler, a conceptual artist who has long made work about mass media — to submit ballots of at least 10 covers that they felt were worth discussing in order to narrow down to a list of finalists. Below are all of their nominees, with the jury members ordered alphabetically and their selections chronologically, along with a little more commentary (which has been edited and condensed) about a few that almost made the cut … or caused debate for other reasons.
Gayle King’s list:
1. “50,000 March on Montgomery,” Ebony, May 1965
2. “The Blunt Reality of War in Vietnam,” Life, Nov. 26, 1965
Adam Moss: This is a great photo. I would say it’s a very good cover, but it’s not introducing an idea.
Kurt Soller: But isn’t photo editing and the act of choosing an image important? You think of certain magazine covers, like the one Gayle chose: Those images are the ones people remember from the Vietnam War.
Gayle King: Yeah.
3. “To The Moon and Back,” Life, Aug. 11, 1969
4. “Along Afghanistan’s War-Torn Frontier,” National Geographic, June 1985
King: I love that cover. I can’t look at that without giving myself a moment to just take it in.
David Remnick: I think someone caught up with her later.
King: Let’s just say her eyes were not as arresting. But it’s showing that there’s still beauty in such a war-torn place.
5. Demi Moore, Vanity Fair, August 1991
6. Ellen DeGeneres, Time, April 14, 1997
7. Brandi Chastain, Sports Illustrated, July 19, 1999
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The post Everything Our Experts Considered When Choosing the 25 Most Influential Magazine Covers appeared first on New York Times.
