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Chistopher Isherwood on Dracula

February 10, 2013, 10:23 am
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I have been reading Christopher Isherwood's diaries. His post from May 2, 1971 includes the following paragraph. This was close to the same time period when Edward Gorey began working on the set designs for the Nantucket stage production of Dracula.

May 2. Have just finished reading Dracula. It really tells you little or nothing about how it feels to be a vampire. What turns the author on  is the predicament of the two beautiful bitten women. Of course they both remain perfect ladies, except at moments when they are "not themselves." Poor Lucy! "Her eyes blazed with unholy light, and the face became wreathed with a voluptuous smile.... There was something diabolically sweet in her tones - something of the tingling of glass when struck." Mina never sinks that low, but you feel she rather loves having the vampire scar on her brow, and being oh so brave, and having these good-looking guys running around protecting her: "Oh, it did me good to see the way that they are so earnest, and so true, and so brave! And, too, it made me think of the wonderful power of money! What can it not do when it is properly applied; and what might it do when basely used. I felt so thankful that Lord Godalming is rich...." (This last remark refers to the fact that Lord Godalming could afford a steam launch to pursue Dracula's coffin up the river.) What might it do is exquisite. Was Bram Stoker making fun of Mina? Maybe so. He was Irish. I would like to read his life, if there is one. Also his Dracula's Guest and his memories of Henry Irving.
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Auction News

February 14, 2013, 7:38 am
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On January 24th, Swann Galleries in New York City held a 20th Century Illustration auction which featured illustrated books and original illustration artwork. Included in this auction were several lots of Edward Gorey items.

Included in the Gorey items were two pieces of original artwork. One of the  pieces, entitled True Brit, is a football-themed watercolor. This vividly colored piece of art was created for TV Guide and appeared in the August 2, 1986 issue of the magazine.
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Happy Birthday Edward Gorey!

February 22, 2013, 12:00 am
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For Edward Gorey's birthday I usually make him wear a silly hat - which he detests...This year, as a special treat for his 88th birthday, he is being featured on Google Doodle!

(http://www.webpronews.com/edward-gorey-google-doodle-celebrates-eccentric-artist-2013-02)

Make some White Sauce, stew some Turnips, frost the Cake with Black Icing!
Happy Birthday Edward Gorey!!!

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Graham Gallery Cats

February 24, 2013, 1:48 pm
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My continuing search for images from Edward Gorey's 1974 Graham Gallery Exhibition entitled Plain & Coloured Drawings is occasionally rewarded by some newly recognized piece from the show (see my original post about the exhibition from June 30, 2009). It is my hope that one day I will have found all the images from this landmark exhibition so that we can better understand Mr. Gorey's artistic frame of mind at this important time in his career.

While researching another Gorey topic recently, I accidentally stumbled across four images which I had not realized were created for the show. I also found it amusing that these images were not hiding at all...they were actually sitting on my desk in plain sight - being printed note cards issued by Pomegranate!

On the back of each card are titles for the images, but these captions do not match the titles Mr. Gorey originally gave the images. Checking the original list of art created for the show, these images were obviously created for Graham.

Below I list the original titles and the number of the item from the show's catalog supplement. I do not know if the colors were adjusted when printing the cards or if the colors shown represent Mr. Gorey's original watercolor choices.

29. Cat on cardboard rocks


30. Cat with umbrella and flower

32. Cat inside empty picture frame


40. Cat at the corner of a carpet
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An Interesting Article

February 26, 2013, 7:25 am
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Two More Graham Gallery Cats

March 5, 2013, 6:47 am
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A little over a week ago, I posted some newly recognized images from Edward Gorey's 1974 Graham Gallery Exhibition entitled Plain & Coloured Drawings. I ran across two more cats from the exhibition - in postcard form this time.

I do not know if the colors were adjusted for this printing or if the colors shown represent Mr. Gorey's original watercolor choices.

31. Cat wearing long scarf
 

34. Cat between andirons
 
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Vinegar Works Exhibition

March 15, 2013, 7:28 am
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Only one month to the opening of the Vinegar Works Exhibition at The Edward Gorey House! The exhibition celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the publication of this remarkable and disturbing work in three volumes. The exhibition opens on April 18th and runs to the end of the year.
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Graham Gallery Images

March 24, 2013, 9:13 pm
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At the beginning of the month I posted some newly recognized images from Edward Gorey's 1974 Graham Gallery Exhibition entitled Plain & Coloured Drawings. Recognizing these images had inspired me to hunt through day planners and calendars that I have not looked through in some time.

Looking at Gorey Rare, an engagement calendar published by Pomegranate in 2007, I have located what I hope to be two more images from this show. The number refers to the original list from the exhibition. These are both wonderful drawings full of humor in one and foreboding in the other. The origin of the images is not indicated in the publication, so if anyone has more information about these images, I would love to hear from you.

25. Tennis















46. Peas





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Beautiful Remains ~ The Vinegar Works on Display

March 27, 2013, 8:19 pm
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Published in 1963 as a slipcased collection of three books intended to instruct, appall and amuse, The Vinegar Works, Three Volumes of Moral Instruction by Edward Gorey celebrates its golden anniversary this year. A special exhibition of artwork from the three volumes, The Gashlycrumb Tinies, The Insect God, and The West Wing, will be on display at The Edward Gorey House beginning April 18, 2013 and continuing to the end the year.

Nearly all of the drawings from The Vinegar Works will be on exhibit at The Edward Gorey House (sadly, the letters K, L and M from The Gashlycrumb Tinies have vanished  over the years). The House will be displaying the original art from the three books together for the first time since Edward Gorey created these iconic images. Individual pieces of art from each of the three books have been included in exhibitions in the past, but the artwork from all three books has never been displayed together in their entirety.

Even though images from these books have been printed in books and reproduced on everything from lunch boxes to coffee mugs, no printed or computer generated reproduction can compare to the visceral experience of viewing the original artwork in person. When viewed face to face, the artist’s touch in bringing pen to paper can actually be seen and felt in the finished drawings.

In the printing process, every line within a drawing is given equal emphasis and is printed in the same tone of black ink, which flattens the images. Each part of the image is either black or white with no tonal modulation. When viewing the original artwork, the India ink comes alive revealing a depth and richness - heavy pen strokes are actually darker than light feathery lines. In all three suites of drawings being displayed, Mr. Gorey created darkness and shadow by crosshatching and varying the thickness of the line, not by in-painting ink with a brush. This technique of adding multiple layers of lines, one atop the other, creates added depth in the black areas as the paper transforms into a three dimensional pool of ink due to its saturation on the surface. The inky blackness of the color tricks the eye, and in person the original drawings appear smaller and more concentrated than their printed versions.

Edward Gorey was a month shy of his 35th birthday when he began the artwork for The Gashlycrumb Tinies on Jan 11, 1960. At that time, Mr. Gorey was employed as the art director at Looking Glass Library. Because his day job kept him busy during normal working hours, he created drawings on weekends, in the evenings, and on his days off. A typical drawing for the book would take about day to ink. Every drawing is dated on the reverse with a start and finish date. These dates indicate that, while some drawings were completed in one day, most were started one day and completed on a second day. 

Edward Gorey worked on the drawings for Tinies in alphabetical order starting with A and continuing to Z. As he closed in on completing the art, he sped up, finishing both letters Y and Z on Friday April 15, 1960 - Good Friday of Easter weekend!

The drawings for The Insect God were also completed in sequence beginning on Wednesday April 19, 1961. The final push for The Insect God was a weekend where Mr. Gorey rarely left his drawing station. On Saturday May 20th he completed drawing #8 (started on Monday May 15) and #9. Sunday May 21 was a test of his concentration and abilities as he inked three drawings (#10, 11 & 12). He finished the art for the book on Monday May 22, 1961 with the final two drawings (#13 & 14).

The West Wing proved to be the most problematic of the three books, probably due to the fact that Mr. Gorey was not working with a plotted text. Being a collection of individual images which relate to one another primarily because they are all interior vignettes, the story that holds them together is created by the viewer. The dates on the back of the drawings show that the art was created in no particular order over a two year period and was set aside several times for other projects.

The artwork in The Vinegar Works represents some of Edward Gorey’s most intricate and beautiful drawings. Each individual drawing is a tour de force of inspiration and craftsmanship elevated to the level of perfection. The ability to visit The Edward Gorey House and view all the artwork from the three books is an experience that may not come again...and one that should not be missed!
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Lilliput Cover Art

April 15, 2013, 12:39 pm
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Lilliput was a small format British monthly publication founded in 1937. I previously wrote about a piece of original artwork created by Edward Gorey as a cover image for this magazine (see my post from July 9, 2011). Edward Gorey created a total of three cover images for Lilliput magazine - all of these cover designs are presumably unpublished and were not used by the magazine. It is unclear if they were ever sent to the magazine itself or if Mr. Gorey created them as examples of his work or for exhibition.

All three Lilliput pieces were created somewhere around 1948/1950 and each is signed with Mr. Gorey's early form of initial signature, "EStJG" in block letters. Around 1950, he changed his initial signature to"EG", and would continue to use variations of the EG signature from that point forward.
This Lilliput cover painting is significantly different from the one I featured in the earlier post. In the previous piece (shown at top), there is an enhanced boldness in the figures and coloration, due to the stained glass style of the art.

Today's piece of art is highly sophisticated with an exceptional use of white space in the composition of the image. A sense of depth is achieved solely by placing two passenger balloons floating in the sky. Without the balloons, the image would be a fairly one dimensional scene, but the scale of the balloons turns the image into a fantasy landscape.

As in the previous piece, Mr. Gorey's love of early automobiles is present. The two fur clad men in the car are contrasted with the toga clad man, whose costume mimics the statue which is perched atop the tower. Either the man in the tower would be very cold or the men in the car are overdressed for the weather!






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Translating Edward Gorey's Nonsense Verse

April 22, 2013, 8:50 am
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The translation of any text from one language to another is fraught with perils, especially when the work is fiction, poetry or song lyrics. These styles of writing are often as much about the language itself as it is the meanings expressed. A particularly difficult task is translating nonsense verse.

The works of Edward Gorey are now available in many languages. Edward Gorey's Epiplectic Bicycles is an article by Alan Levinovitc following the perils and pitfalls of translating my favorite Gorey volume into Spanish, German, French, Japanese and Chinese.
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Edward Gorey Lilliput Covers, Part 3

April 30, 2013, 6:36 am
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Edward Gorey created a total of three cover images for Lilliput Magazine around 1948/1950 and each is signed with Mr. Gorey's early form of initial signature, "EStJG" in block letters. I previously wrote about the two other pieces created for this magazine (see my post from July 9, 2011 & April 15, 2013). It is unclear if they were ever sent to the magazine itself or if Mr. Gorey created them as examples of his work for exhibition.

Mr. Gorey obviously intended all three pieces to be viewed as covers (or potential cover designs) for the magazine. The name is boldly featured in each composition and two of the three have the price indicated in the upper right hand corner of the paintings.

This third Lilliput cover painting again shows a sophisticated use of white space in the composition of the image. Foreground, middle and far depth is achieved simply and economically with the bleak snowy landscape indicated by using the white of the paper. The grey winter sky would become a favorite theme in Edward Gorey's works, and in this image it is effectively painted in. The detailing on the image is remarkable. The image is 5.25" x 7.75" and the two figures having tea in the snow are very tiny on the original, yet they are rendered with precise details and shading. The gentlemen remain unexpectedly unmoved by the cold desolation of the countryside, and this is one instance where a fur coat appears to be needed.
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Additional Graham Gallery Les Roses Images

May 11, 2013, 6:51 am
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On my post from December 28, 2011, I featured an image by Edward Gorey entitled: Les Roses bleuatres l'ouldiette dans ea cuisine which was included in the 1975 Graham Gallery Problem Pictures show. I have recently run across two black and white reprints of artwork that must have been created as companion pieces for the show. If Edward Gorey used the same size and format for each of the three paintings, the images are heavily cropped in the black and white photos, but perhaps he created the images in different shapes and sizes.

Finding two more images makes me wonder if there might be more to this series. Some enigmatic story line is indicated - in the first piece (or possibly the final piece) we have an exterior view of the cutaway building, while the other two images indicate strange domestic events.


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Edward Gorey Theatrical Pinback Buttons

May 18, 2013, 7:19 am
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Edward Gorey created pinback buttons for most of the theatrical entertainments he was involved with. He also created a number of pinback buttons for the New York City Ballet. These buttons were usually made in very limited quantities and were sold in lobbies and gift stores at the events. Extra buttons were usually sold by Gotham Book Mart. Even though they were inexpensive souvenirs, they can be quite difficult to find today, making them a challenging collectible to acquire.

Mr. Gorey usually drew a unique image for the pinback buttons, making each button the only place you will find the image. If the image also appeared on a program or poster, he would redraw it to size for the button rather than reducing it down. Each design is a vignette that often includes the title of the production it was created for. I have many of the buttons from his productions on the Cape, but do not have a complete collection.

From 1994 onward, Figbash makes frequent appearances on the buttons, as well as on posters, programs, announcement cards, and even on stage. I own one of the earliest white hand sewn Figbash dolls that was included as part of the set decoration on Chinese Gossip.

Here are the buttons I  have:

Tinned Lettuce & Amphigorey - These two productions were performed in New York City and not on the Cape. Tinned Lettuce is from 1985 and Amphigorey from 1994. I attended performances of both of these productions. The Tinned Lettuce button is the only one to have a maker's mark along the edge: N C SLATER CORP NYC 10011 (followed by a minute logo). All other buttons are unmarked.

Lost Shoelaces 1987 - Another souvenir from this production is printed shoelaces which were sold in pairs.

Useful Urns 1990 - The small boy appears on many theatrical posters and buttons.

Stuffed Elephants 1990 - Mr. Gorey created many prints of elephants as well as sewing actual stuffed elephant toys.

Flapping Ankles 1991 - Eggplant, Boy, Frog...

Crazed Teacups 1992 - The boy is adrift atop teacups which are floating in Chinese-style clouds or waves.

Blithering Christmas 1992 - Why Mr. Gorey associated Robots and Reptiles with Christmas is anyone's guess.

Chinese Gossip 1994 - Figbash does ballet.

Salome 1995 - I believe the Embrace Etceterism button was done for this play, but am not sure. Figbash in a supplicating gesture.

Epistolary Play 1997 - Figbash dances with a replaceable pen point of the sort that Gorey used in his drawing pens.

English Soup 1998 - Figbash with an urn, there was also a limited edition print created for this production.

Tragic Secrets - This is a pose I have yet to see any of my dogs achieve...but they try...I am not sure which production the Tragic  Secrets button was created for.
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Edward Gorey New York City Ballet Pinback Buttons

May 25, 2013, 6:45 am
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Edward Gorey was an enthusiast and supporter of the New York City Ballet. One way he showed his support was to create images which the Ballet could have printed on merchandise which they sold in their gift store. Posters, cards, clothing, beach towels, and pinback buttons all were adorned with Gorey images.

I am showing three pieces of original artwork that Edward Gorey created in October 1975 to be used as pinback buttons for the ballet. This artwork was offered to me many years ago by Gotham Book Mart, but unfortunately I was unable to acquire them at the time. I am especially fond of the image at the bottom with the dancer being held aloft. The composition of this design is both gravity defying and amusing. I do not know how dancers are trained to hold their hands when striking a pose, but this ballerina's hands have a manic look about them even though her expression is confident.


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Gashlycrumb Tinies Stained Glass

June 4, 2013, 7:02 am
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As many followers of this blog know, I co-own Century Studios, a stained glass studio in St. Paul, Minnesota with Bill Campbell. Each year, we like to create and donate a stained glass window hanging to the Edward Gorey House which they can auction or sell. The piece relates to the theme of the current exhibition, and each is a one-of-a-kind creation.

In 1963, The Vinegar Works was published as three separate books housed in a decorated slip case. The design of the box features a skeleton family dressed in their Sunday best. This year, we have chosen one of the skeletal children who appear on the spine of the box as the theme for our stained glass suncatcher.

The piece is completely hand made using American-made art glass. We chose an unusual textured red glass for the background of the figure. The figure and decoration are hand painted by Bill onto the surface of the glass and is kiln fired to become permanent.

To find out how you might obtain this one of a kind piece, contact The Edward Gorey House.
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The House With A Clock In Its Walls Art

June 6, 2013, 7:05 am
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 I was asked to pick my five favorite pieces of art from the Edward Gorey illustrations for The House With A Clock In Its Walls by John Bellairs. My picks and comments are now on the bellairsia website.

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Dracula & Dark Shadows

June 17, 2013, 9:29 pm
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We have been watching a lot of Dark Shadows at our house over the past few months. The 1960's & 70's daytime soap is awash with vampires, ghosts, the supernatural, and more than a few passing references to classic horror films. I have not heard that Edward Gorey was ever an avid watcher of the show, but it seems to be the kind of daytime entertainment that he would have enjoyed for its high camp tone and occasional, questionable production values.

While looking up information about actor Humbert Allen Astredo, the actor who played warlock Nicholas Blair, I came across the fact that Mr. Astredo played Van Helsing in the 1985 national tour of Edward Gorey's Dracula. The tour starred Martin Landau as Dracula, and came to the newly completed Ordway Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota on February 4 & 5, 1985. Bill and I attended both performances of the play.

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More Edward Gorey Mugs

June 28, 2013, 8:55 pm
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On my posting from January 22, 2012, I showed a number of Edward Gorey designed mugs that I have in my collection. A generous follower of this blog has sent photos of three mugs that I did not show.


There were two mugs created for the Signals catalog to advertise Mystery!, the weekly series of classic and modern murder stories. The two designs were made with printing that partially disappeared when the mug was filled with hot liquid, revealing new plot twists. While nice in theory, the mugs never really worked that well, and with repeated use the disappearing ink goes mid-tone grey. These mugs must also be hand washed. This is the second design, the first being shown in my previous post. The small helicopter that appears to be hovering at a distance is one of the more unusual aspects of this mug.


The other two designs forwarded to me are mugs that feature Figbash, that enigmatic creature created by Mr. Gorey for his book The Raging Tide. Figbash cavorts merrily on both of these mugs, dancing with a gramophone horn on one and floating amongst commas on the other. The mug with the commas was created for Mr. Gorey's show Inverted Commas.







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Happy Independence Day!

July 4, 2013, 6:23 am
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Patriotic Figbash does his annual Happy 4th of July dance!
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