The plot, or soup, thickens around Edward Gorey's original artwork for The Tuning Fork, which is being offered at Sotheby's Auction House next week.According to Edward Bradford, the official Edward Gorey bibliographer and author of F is for Fantods; Edward Gorey's Fantod Press: A Bibliographical Checklist, the art being offered was most likely the version of The Tuning Fork published in Status Magazine in November 1968 (two other complete books by Edward Gorey also appeared in the magazine in March 1969 & July 1969) under the title - Theoda; A Gothic Tale of the Generation Gap, Alienation and Despair Driving Parents and Children into Monstrous Behavior which Solves Nothing. This is, quite possibly, the most convoluted title to any tale penned by Mr. Gorey.
So the question remains - Why redraw the book? The most reasonable explanation offered by Mr. Bradford is that the original artwork simply was not returned to Mr. Gorey by the magazine, and when EG thought of including this story in Amphigorey Also, the art could not be found. The only option would be to redraw the entire book. This also explains why there were no changes to the story and the illustrations match the originals so well - Mr. Gorey had no choice but to copy his own work from the printed magazine pictures.
It is not as unusual as it sounds for an artist not to get art back from a publisher, especially in the 1960's. It usually fell to the artist or their agent to keep track of such things, and if a significant amount of time had elapsed before anyone thought to get the work back, it could easily be lost.
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11 comments:
"This sold millions of copies. I got $600...
from CBS records in 1968.
And they kept my artwork. They stole my artwork, those bastards.
I heard recently that the original of this...
sold at Sotheby's for $21,000."--R. Crumb, in the documentary film Crumb (1994)
This sort of thing is indeed common. The question you haven't raised is whether the seller has the right to sell this suite. Or should it belong to the estate of Edward Gorey?
Mr. Crumb's comment is interesting in that he does not address any attempt on his part in getting his art back originally, or having a contract that specified he have all art returned to him.
I have not addressed the topic of ownership of this artwork directly because it is not for me to comment or decide upon. I have no idea who owns or should own the art.
Have followed your great blog for a long time and have finally signed up! I have a question regarding full books printed in magazines - do you know of "The Mourning Fan" as printed in Antaeus Spring 1990 issue? It is a lovely but slightly sinister poem book with 30 miniature fan-shaped illustrations. Obviously never made it to become a book - but did it even make it to any of the Amphigorey collections? Interestingly there doesn't seem to be a calling card hidden in any of the illustrations.
I don't think I have this Antaeus in my collection...I will have to look for it. This story does not appear in an Amphigorey. It is listed as a "Primary Work in a Periodical" in Toledano, but not having seen it I can't comment on the calling card...
An interesting side note regarding illustrators having artwork stolen: Illustrator Ronald Searle provided a piece titled "Papa Doc, Haiti" which was published in the same issue of Status Magazine as Edward Gorey's "Theoda" (November 1968).
According to a posting dated May 30, 2006 on Mr. Searle's blog (ronaldsearle.blogspot.com), Mr. Searle has listed his piece of original artwork as "stolen".
This is a different type of theft entirely. The original artwork for "Papa Doc, Haiti" was indeed returned to Searle by the publisher of Status Magazine. In 1973, it was exhibited in Searle's one-man show at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. It was at this exhibition that the original artwork, along with one or two other pieces, was stolen, something of an embarrassment for the Bibliothèque, which did not have insurance coverage for this eventuality. The library ended up "buying" the missing artwork. This incident is recounted in Russell Davies's biography of the artist.
Perpetua, the Ronald Searle Tribute blog, is the handiwork of Matt Jones, a devoted fan. Matt is a storyboard animator currently hard at work on a future Pixar project. Mr. Searle is aware of Matt's blog and wholeheartedly approves of it.
I should point out one more thing. The reason that both Ronald Searle and Edward Gorey had artwork published in the November 1968 issue of Status Magazine may be that they were both represented by the same New York agent, John Locke. If Searle's original artwork was returned while Gorey's apparently was not, the explanation for this discrepancy is certainly not a reflection on the artists' representative. Locke was, in my opinion, the most diligent agent any illustrator could want.
As I have stated before, I have no personal opinion on how this suite of drawings came into private hands or who owns/should own the artwork.
The lot appears to have been withdrawn. Any idea what happened? Was this because of the issues over ownership?
The Tuning Fork appears to have been withdrawn from the sale. Do you know if this has anything to do with the issue of its rightful ownership?
interesting.
Thanks for reminding me I need to get that Fantod book!
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