Christmas Surprises

The holiday season was extra Goreylicious this year. Over the past few years, my husband Bill has been creating Earbrass-inspired toys as gifts for me. This year he wanted to create a multipurpose figurine/tree topper inspired by the floating angels Edward Gorey would feature in Christmas Card images. Balancing on one toe, the Earbrass Angel is bringing a tinsel garland to festoon a Christmas tree.

The Angel joins the three other toy figurines he has made annually. The Angel comes complete with a church steeple shaped base to hover above. The body of the Angel has a large spring that gives him a distinctive wobble.

Bill designed the Angel to be easily removable from the steeple and also made a large spring shaped support so he can be used on a Christmas tree.

In the process of making the Angel, Bill also made several extra heads. Rather than setting them aside, he decide to turn them into various character ornaments to grace the pink tinsel tree. We now have the beginnings of a Gorey Christmas Tree that will be added to over the years. We are thinking of making a Gorey Bat Garland to grace the tree next Christmas.

Edward Gorey Christmas Card Original Artwork

Edward Gorey hated Christmas. 

This oft repeated statement has grown to mythic status, no doubt encouraged Edward Gorey's gleeful hyperbole on the subject when asked about the holiday season. But is the statement fact? If Edward Gorey did indeed hate Christmas, he certainly didn't express his disdain through his art. In fact, almost every Christmas image he created expresses a childlike wonder and sense of good will for the season.

Beginning in the late 1940's and continuing throughout his career Edward Gorey created so many delightful holiday images that the Christmas Season is a major collecting subcategory within his work. There have been multitudes of Gorey Christmas collectibles produced in the form of books, greeting cards, post cards, gift tags, wrapping paper and mugs. Even with so much material, it is rare to come across Christmas themed original artwork available for purchase. 

It was a special thrill therefore to be able to have the opportunity to acquire an exceptional piece of original Gorey art with a Christmas theme. Christmas in the Eggplant Hills is a pen and ink drawing created for the Albondocani Press in 1989. The image graced a limited edition Christmas card that was printed in a run of 400 cards. This was the ninth of ten Christmas card images that Edward Gorey created between 1975 and 1990 for the Press.

When publisher George Bixby would ask Edward Gorey to create Christmas card images for the Albondocani Press, it was not until the artwork arrived that Mr. Bixby knew what the images would be. Eggplant Hills is one of more enigmatic and quirky drawings created for the series and is full of wonderful details. With the assistance of a long necked creature of unspecified origin, rabbits dressed in "Christmas plaid" are decorating an effigy (or possibly a scarecrow) with baubles. The endearingly childlike characters look like they stepped out of a nursery toy box as they diligently set about their decorating.

Christmas in the Eggplant Hills is one of three pieces of original art from the Albondocani Christmas card series that was listed by W. C. Baker Rare Books & Ephemera. The second piece of art, In Stubville, Nebraska... is another delightful holiday image that includes a man in one of Edward Gorey's signature fur coats. It was difficult to decide which of these two pieces to acquire and in the end the more esoteric image won out. The Stubville artwork sold to another collector.

The third piece of art from the Albodocani Christmas card series was sold by Mr. Baker to another collector. Un cadeau ennuyeux (the boring gift) shows a stunned couple taking in the extravagantly spindly plant that the maid has just unwrapped. George Bixby never knew what would arrive from the artist when he asked for a Christmas card image and, like the Eggplant Hills image, this drawing is another prime example of expecting the unexpected from Edward Gorey's fertile imagination.

W.C. Baker Rare Books and Ephemera is currently listing the Joyeux Noel piece of original art by Edward Gorey shown at the top of this post. This rare piece of original artwork was created in the very early 1950's and while Christmas themed, it is not part of the Albondocani holiday series. (the sales listing for the Joyeux artwork can be found HERE)

(Images by Irwin Terry and courtesy W.C. Baker Rare Books and Ephemera)

C is for Cane

My husband Bill Campbell and I celebrate our anniversary on Thanksgiving Day. For the past few years he has created a sculpture or toy for me inspired by Edward Gorey's character Mr. Earbrass. This year's anniversary gift was a collaborative effort between the two of us - a cane inspired by Mr. Gorey's illustration C is for Cane. from an unfinished alphabet in the Gorey Archives.

Bill started by referencing the drawing and hand carving the head out of wood. The wooden head was painted and a rubber mold was created so we could pour the head in foundry wax. 

If cast as a solid bronze piece the cane head would weigh about two pounds so the wax head was poured hollow. After adding details to the wax by hand, it was taken to our foundry where it was lost wax cast in bronze. Bill cleaned and polished the raw bronze casting to bring up the shiny surface.

The bronze head was fitted so it would screw onto the end of the wooden cane stick. As you can see in the above photo, during the molding and casting process the object being cast will end up slightly smaller than the original carving so we had to take this shrinkage into account when sizing the carving.

The finished cane is well balanced and fits nicely in the hand. It is not only a unique decorative object, but it is a fully functional cane that will no doubt be put to practical use as the years go by.

C is for Cane illustration courtesy The Edward Gorey Charitable Trust. To see this and other rare original pieces of art from the Gorey Archive, follow the Trust on Instagram and/or Facebook.

Auction News - Freeman's Auction House

Founded in 1805, Freeman's Auction House in Philadelphia is America's oldest established auction house. On Thursday November 16, 2023 their Books and Manuscripts auction featured the Edward Gorey collection of Valerie and Matthew Young.

In 1970 Valerie Young purchased a copy of The Bug Book to amuse her children. This purchase began a decades long immersion into all things Edward Gorey. The Young's were soon seriously collecting Mr. Gorey's works, acquiring new works as they were published while also searching out used and rare titles. Matthew Young wrote an essay on their collection for the Friends of the Princeton Library Review, Number 44, Summer 2023. Here is a link to the publication, the essay begins on page 41 - https://library.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/Friends%20Review%20no%2044%20Summer%202023%20low-res%20version.pdf

The 49 lots offered included first edition books, limited edition books, hand colored deluxe edition books, prints, posters, stuffed creatures, and original artwork. Every piece offered sold, with multiple bidders vying for each item. The limited edition Doubtful Guest Doll (#22/50) with its box (shown above) sold for $3780.00 (including buyer's premium). Elephantomas (#VII/X), the very rare portfolio of nine monoprints sold for $5985.00 (including buyer's premium).

Four pieces of original art were included in the auction. English Soup, a black and white drawing created circa 1998 for Edward Gorey's play of the same title sold for $5985.00 (including buyer's premium). Figbash first appeared in The Raging Tide, 1987 and quickly became a favorite character. With his long arms and flexible body, Figbash appeared in countless drawings and books, but very few original drawings of the character are in private collections. This is only the third piece of original artwork featuring Figbash that I am aware of outside of the Gorey Archives.

The other three pieces of original art sold all relate to Edward Gorey's 1976 book, The Broken Spoke. Les Insectes Cyclistes is a visually witty take on cycling, with three long legged insects riding various bicycles. This eye catching piece sold for $11,970.00 (including buyer's premium).

A drawing listed as a sketch for this piece sold for $5985.00. This drawing will be discussed in depth in an upcoming post.

A stunning full color painting titled Contestants in the annual Trans-Novaya Zemlya Bicycle Race sold for $15,120.00. Created for The Broken Spoke, this piece of art adorned the cover of Bromer Booksellers 2001 extensive catalog of the works of Edward Gorey.

It was exciting to see this extensive collection come on the market in an era when many collectors choose to donate their collections to libraries and institutions where, after the initial excitement generated by the donation, the pieces are rarely displayed. The opportunity for collectors to fill in gaps within their collections was a rare experience that keeps joy of collecting alive and thriving.  

Images for this post courtesy Freeman's Auction House and the Princeton Library Review.

A Gorey/Bellairs Discovery

Sometimes treasures are hidden in plain sight and it only takes the curiosity of an astute observer to properly identify them. Such was the case with a piece of original artwork by Edward Gorey that is on display at the F. Brooke Whiting Museum in Cumberland, Maryland.

F. Brooke Whiting (Dec. 5, 1918 - July 27, 1998) earned a Master's degree in Library Science in 1957 and served for thirty-two years as Curator of Rare Books and Literary Manuscripts for UCLA. Mr. Whiting maintained his family home in Cumberland and was a long time member of the Allegany County Historical Society. Together with his partner Wesley Griswold, Mr. Whiting traveled the world collecting remarkable furniture and objects of interest. Mr. Whiting eventually donated his home and collections to the Historical Society along with an endowment to maintain the house as a museum.

Amongst his many interests, Brooke Whiting collected original illustration art, and his collection includes pieces by such notable artists as Maurice Sendak and Tasha Tudor. On display in the house is a piece by Edward Gorey that caught the attention of museum volunteer Bill Dunlap, an artist and illustrator in his own right. 

The art was labeled: Edward Gorey, Front and Back Cover, The Curse of the Blue Figurine by John Bellairs. 

Intrigued to learn more about the artwork, Bill Dunlap did an online search and found that the art on display did not match the published cover for the book listed but rather looked like the cover for Mr. Bellairs The Lamp from the Warlock's Tomb.

The image was similar, but not an exact match for the published cover. The people and building on the left hand side had were in different positions and there were elements missing that appear on the published cover. Finding references to the Bellairs series on my Goreyana blog, Mr. Dunlap contacted me to see if I could shed any light on the curious differences. After a brief examination of the image, it was obvious that the museum owned a rare preliminary painting for the finished cover. 

Edward Gorey often created expressively detailed preliminary sketches for color book cover illustrations. This allowed him to quickly work out the general layout and details of an image. Mr. Gorey produced 22 cover designs for the Bellairs series, the last of which he completed just before he died in April 2000. Of these 22 cover designs, this is the third full color preliminary art to come to my attention. The other two are color sketches for The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull, 1984 and The Revenge of the Wizard's Ghost, 1985 (this piece is in my collection).

Comparing these preliminary works, the Lamp From the Warlock's Tomb art is the most highly finished of the three sketches and it is easy to see how it could be mistaken for the final artwork. It is always exciting to learn of a piece of a previously unknown original art by Edward Gorey, especially one that was not intended for publication. 

To learn more about the F. Brooke Whiting House and Museum, visit their website: http://thewhitinghouse.org

Images for this posting courtesy of the Albany County Historical Society, Swann Auction Galleries, and by Irwin Terry.

Goreyana 15th Anniversary & 1064 Watercolor Paintings

Goreyana's Crystal Anniversary

This week at Goreyana, we celebrate 15 years of all things Edward Gorey. I began the Goreyana blog on October 5, 2008 as a way to honor the extraordinary talent and genius of Edward Gorey. The Gotham Book Mart had closed in 2007 and at that time there were very few venues to learn about Mr. Gorey's body of work. Feeling isolated as a collector, I envisioned this blog as a place to share information, stories, and hopefully to spark conversations between fans and collectors. Today, Gorey's ongoing popularity has led to numerous blogs, articles, Facebook groups, exhibitions, and themed events dedicated to reveling in the works of Edward Gorey. I would like to thank everyone who has read my posts over the years. I truly enjoy all the interactions and enjoyment that my blog has inspired. Thank you! 

Now, let us begin our 16th year with blog post #724!

1064 Watercolor Paintings

Over the years Edward Gorey produced five different limited edition publications that were hand colored: The Lavender Leotard 1973, Dogear Wryde Postcards: Interpretive Series 1979 (1980), The Eclectic Abecedarium 1983, Q.R.V. 1989, and The Dripping Faucet 1989. The Interpretive Series is the most elaborately painted of these titles. I have set 29 in my personal collection.

A recent stroll through eBay turned up three separate sale listings for the deluxe edition of Edward Gorey's Dogear Wryde Postcards: Interpretive Series. Published in 1979 (but not completed until spring 1980), the deluxe edition consists of 50 numbered and 26 lettered sets. Each of the 13 postcards and their accompanying printed envelopes have been extensively hand decorated by Edward Gorey using watercolor paints. This totals out to 1064 individual watercolor paintings. The appearance of multiple sets brought up the question, "How did Edward Gorey paint these cards and are there major differences in the execution of the painting from one set to to the next?".

Photographs of Edward Gorey's home show an environment that is overflowing with books, art, objet d'art, furniture, and cats. The casual viewer might think that the artist lived in world of clutter and chaos, but first impressions can be deceiving. Edward Gorey was actually a very organized person with an obsessive dedication to his work, and his combination of talent and organizational skills were put to the test with the Interpretive Series. The painting of these postcard sets was a task that he set for himself and he rose to the challenge spectacularly.

Comparing images side by side from sets that have been come on the market over the years from booksellers, auction houses and online auction sites, we find that there are no major differences between the sets even though they are all individually hand painted. Beginning with the decorated envelope that houses each set, and making allowances for differences in scans, color correction and photography, the paintings are shockingly similar. I purchased my set at The Gotham Book mart in the spring of 1980 just after they had arrived and remember them all standing together in an open topped box in the small back room at the store. In typical bookstore fashion, the front of each envelope had been labeled lightly in pencil by Andreas Brown stating the number or letter of the set enclosed.

Indolence is the only card in the set that features a capitol letter "I" in a horizontal orientation, so it tends to be featured most often in seller's listings. All the cards of Indolence pictured above are virtually the same, with the colors and shadows of each painted card being obviously hand painted but remarkably consistent. Even the free form shadow under the figure has the same shape and color tone.

In order for Edward Gorey to paint the cards with so little variation from one to the next, he had to have lined up all the cards and painted them production line fashion rather than painting a complete set of 13 cards and moving on to the next set. Concentrating on one image at a time would be the only way to achieve the consistency between the cards. Watercolor can be a tricky medium to master due to the fact that the application of a second color can change what was previously painted.

The cards had printed images that were painted coloring book fashion. Beginning with one color, he would have started with the "I" of every card because it needed to be as smoothly painted as possible. He then would have filled in the creature's body color before beginning the shadows, layering the colors until each was completed. In the two Insouciance cards shown above, you can see how the shadowing on the stomach of the set 42 card started to bleed slightly because the paint being applied was slightly too wet and began reacting with the previously painted body color. This is why the larger areas of infill color would be painted first and the shadows second.

Edward Gorey would not attempt to repeat the elaborate painting style in the three future deluxe hand colored books he would produce. The painting in these publications is still quite colorful but attempts at shading were abandoned. This is why the Dogear Wryde Postcards: Interpretive Series deluxe hand painted postcard sets will always be a jewel in the crown of any collection of the works of Edward Gorey.

Image of Edward Gorey's home from Kevin McDermott's book, Elephant House, Pomegranate 2003.

The Broken Spoke Original Artwork

I acquired one of the pieces of original artwork by Edward Gorey that was offered at The Edward Gorey Cocktail Party; or, A Nocturne At The Strand silent auction. 

Valse Degueulasse (Disgusting Waltz) was created in 1976 for Edward Gorey's book The Broken Spoke. This book is a collection of Gorey-created postcard images in disparate styles, each with the common theme of bicycles. 

Edward Gorey rarely sold original artwork from the books he wrote and illustrated, because he wanted the art to be available for subsequent reprints and exhibitions. These works have come to be known as the "A" Collection" publications. Mr. Gorey did make a couple of exceptions and sold art from at least two "A" Collection" books.

Why did Edward Gorey sell the art from The Broken Spoke? In 1979 the artist was approached by The Graham Gallery in New York City to be part of a group exhibition for the holiday season. Mr. Gorey had previously participated in two shows at Graham (1974 & 1975) and for both of these shows he created new works. Rather than create new pieces for this show, Mr. Gorey decided to sell artwork from The Broken Spoke. 

The postcard format of The Broken Spoke dictated that each image included in the book was a singular piece of art that was not part of a larger story, so selling the individual pieces was easier than breaking up a manuscript-style book. The related subject matter of bicycles lent continuity to the images, which would have appealed to the gallery.

Valse degueulasse is a tongue in cheek advertising postcard image for Edward Gorey's book The Epiplectic Bicycle, which was published in 1969. Created seven years after the book it promotes, Mr. Gorey pays homage to his earlier work.  

The Epiplectic Bicycle has long been my favorite book by Edward Gorey. Knowing that the art from this book will remain in the archives of the Edward Gorey Trust, Valse deueulasse became something of an obsession with me once it was announced for inclusion in the silent auction.

In The Broken Spoke, this advertising postcard has been titled (Advertisement) on the facing page.

Individual pieces of art from The Broken Spoke are always entertaining and beautifully executed. The styles vary wildly from piece to piece, showing Edward Gorey's stylistic virtuosity and his command of a variety of artistic techniques.

The sparse composition of Valse degueulasse is a masterclass in composition and restraint.The background is left a pristine white, giving the drawing a lighter than air sensation, enhancing the movement of the figures caught in their unlikely dance. The viewer's eye cannot help but move about the drawing, pausing but briefly at the hand lettered title and speech bubbles before sliding down the alligator's tail, up his back and then down again to land on the seat of the bicycle. Like a roller coaster ride set to music the eye is constantly kept in perpetual motion moving in a circular fashion around the image.

Like most drawings for his A Collection publications, Edward Gorey dated this piece of art on the back of the drawing in the lower right corner. The two dates 31.iii.76 - 31.iii.76 (March 31, 1976 - March 31, 1976) show that the drawing was completed in one day.

The fineness of the line in this drawing is exemplary. The control needed to place the tiniest of dots for the slightly off center pupil in the alligators eye gives the beast expression. The dot is more pronounced in scans and printed versions of the drawing itself. Viewing the drawing in person, the dot is almost invisible.  

This was the final piece of interior postcard art from The Broken Spoke that remained in the Gorey archives, all the others having sold either through Graham Gallery or The Gotham Book Mart. The one remaining original piece from Broken Spoke in the archive is the sumptuous full color cover painting. This spectacular painting has been included in several museum shows of Edward Gorey's works.

Original Art At Auction, Part 2

 

As mentioned in the previous post, there were three more pieces of original artwork offered at The Edward Gorey Cocktail Party; or, A Nocturne At The Strand fundraiser's silent auction on August 9th.

Gentleman on Ottoman represents the earliest drawing offered at the auction. A beautifully executed finished pen and ink drawing, this piece was created in the very early 1950's, around the time of Edward Gorey's first published work, The Unstrung Harp. Not intended for a specific project, this piece nonetheless shows the delicate dexterity of Mr. Gorey's line work and attention to detail. Holding a drink in his left hand, the gentleman is intently studying a piece of paper on the floor. While Edward Gorey's figures can be stiffly posed, this gentleman elegantly displays the intensity of his concentration through his expressive body language. Even the way he holds the cocktail suggests a pause of unexpected inquiry as if the paper suddenly appeared at his feet. This piece sold for $4000.00.

Jumping ahead about 25 years, Edward Gorey created Valse degueulasse (repugnant waltz) in 1976 for his book The Broken Spoke. This image makes a tongue-in-cheek reference to an earlier work by Mr. Gorey, The Epiplectic Bicycle (1969) in which both the alligator and bicycle were featured characters. This drawing is an exceptional example of Edward Gorey's mastery of delicate line work and the use of blank space within a drawing. This piece sold for $4500.00.

Four Men in Fur Coats was created in 1985 for a book project that was not completed. The gentlemen pictured are reminiscent of the similarly adorned characters from Edward Gorey's 1982 book The Water Flowers. The elaborate winter garments worn by the men are beautifully rendered in this pen & ink drawing. As mentioned in a previous post, this drawing was created at a time when Edward Gorey was ceasing to wear fur coats himself, but could still indulge in over the top (and politically incorrect) period fashion in his art. This piece sold for $7250.00.

The photo of the silent auction display case courtesy Russell Lehrer. Images of original art courtesy The Edward Gorey Charitable Trust.