“The Unicorn Woman” — Original NYT Book Review Illustration

Originally commissioned for The New York Times Book Review, this piece by Edward Cushenberry is a visual response to Gayl Jones’s The Unicorn Woman — a novel about myth, identity, and fractured memory. But in Cushenberry’s hands, the unicorn goes cyberpunk. A figure in green (reader? dreamer?) holds a tattered photo of a woman whose face is literally split open. Behind her: a burst of purple against candy-striped wallpaper. Her expression is caught mid-smile, mid-meltdown — one eye closed, the other patched with circuitry.

It’s unsettling and tender at once. The portrait is less about beauty and more about what beauty survives. The stylization — thick outlines, flat colors, graphic tension — recalls Cushenberry’s signature zine-adjacent vibe, but with a sharp editorial edge. Like much of his work, it’s less about explaining the text than translating its emotion: obsession, distance, damage, longing.

You don’t need to have read the novel to feel the impact. This image stands on its own — part sci-fi relic, part heartbreak postcard.

Object: Original illustration on Bristol paper

Title: “The Unicorn Woman” (Book Review Illustration)

Artist / Author: Edward Cushenberry

Date: 2024

Commissioned by: The New York Times

Technique / Method: Prismacolor pencil, ink, and graphite

Medium / Materials: Bristol paper

Edition: Unique

Signed: Yes, on reverse

Dimensions: Approx. 17.8 × 22.8 cm (7 × 9 in)

Condition: Excellent, with minor wear along edges

Provenance: Darwin Collection