50 Top 10 Lists of 2007

Top 10 Magazine Covers

#9. Stern
Nov. 29, 2007

This cover is about memory loss — I'm trying like hell to remember why I like it. Oh, yeah, it's intelligent, visually jarring and respectful toward its subject. It uses the device of trompe l'oeil, in which the eraser and the bits of rubbed-off paper really look like they are sitting atop the cover. This tactile quality creates a double-take that dramatically heightens the involvement of the reader. The intelligence and basic clarity of the idea are the foundation of the cover, but the execution brings it together. In the past, this notion would have been rendered as a photorealistic painting or drawing. Today, this kind of idea is often expressed photographically, imparting an immediacy not possible in the olden days. Beautiful art has its place on covers, but it's getting harder and harder to find that place. My only complaint: The model looks a little young — and Claudia Schiffer–like — probably a bow to the pressures of commercialism.

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