The 1990's

The 1990's were the last decade of Edward Gorey's life - he died in April 2000 at the age of 75. During this time, Mr. Gorey found he had more demands on his time, attentions, and energies because of a growing popularity and interest in his work. His fan base was larger than ever, and this new found popularity resulted in a real push for new work.

Edward Gorey was a man who disliked saying "No" to people, hoping if he was moderately non-committal the proposals could linger while he got along with the projects he was genuinely interested in. One result of the added interest and intrusion to his life, was that the quality and quantity of his "A" collection works from this time period became increasingly minimalistic and, (in my opinion) they pale when compared to his earlier works. His best illustration work during this decade was created for commission projects and not for his own books.

During this decade, Mr. Gorey also shifted his focus from writing and illustrating books to writing, producing, directing, and sometimes performing in local theatrical productions at small theaters near his home in Cape Cod, MA. He often incorporated puppetry into his shows and made the hand puppets himself. Each of these shows had sets and costumes designed by Mr. Gorey and often had programs, posters, announcement cards, mugs and buttons featuring new artwork. This was the work he really enjoyed at the time, and he seemed content to let his illustration work take a back seat to his theater work.