Fruitcake

Fruitcake

The first recorded recipes come from Ancient Roman times and through the centuries, fruitcake has been an extravagant indulgence served at special celebrations whose ingredients at one time were even regulated by the Pope (See the Wikipedia link HERE for a history of fruitcake).  In November 1978, Johnny Carson told a joke on The Tonight Show about fruitcake, stating that there is only one actual fruitcake that gets passed from hand to hand but is never actually consumed. The joke struck like lightning and fruitcake has never been viewed the same since. It seems that everyone either loves fruitcake or despises it.    

In 1990 Edward Gorey added his own inimitable twist on the ubiquitous holiday treat (and running joke). Published as a limited edition Christmas card for the Albodonocani Press in 1990, Edward Gorey drew Fruitcake, a winter scene in which a bundled up family is braving the cold and snow to dispose of their unwanted fruitcakes under the cover of darkness by dropping them through an ice fishing hole on a frozen pond. 

Strikingly executed in pen and ink, the night sky was rendered not by painting in the background which would have been an overwhelming flat black when printed, but rather by painstakingly applied individual pen strokes. The horizontal flecks of white paper showing through the darkness lighten the image and add a sense of drama to the scene. The fruitcake falling from the sky gives the work a touch of surrealistic humor.  

Arguably Edward Gorey's most famous Christmas card image, I acquired the original artwork for Fruitcake earlier this year.

A Gorey Christmas

Published in the New York Times, The New York Times Book Review (NYTBR) is a weekly supplement that first appeared in the paper in 1896. The NYTBR remains one of the most influential review forums for new literature to this day.

In 1990 Edward Gorey was commissioned by the editors of the NYTBR to create nine spot illustrations to enhance the various book genres being reviewed in the December 2nd issue. Mr. Gorey created two additional illustrations for the issue that provided inspiration for writers to submit short stories based on the images. This issue was titled A Gorey Christmas.

Each of the spot illustrations created for the supplement features three characters; a small boy, an alligator, and a robot. Fir tree branches decorated with Christmas baubles intrude into the frame of each illustration. The book categories illustrated include: Architecture, Art (pictured above), Best Books (pictured at the bottom of the post), Cooking, Gardening, Photography, Poetry, Travel, and the rather inexplicable Dying Children.

Dying Children accompanies an essay by Perri Klass about the prevalence in Victorian yuletide-themed literature of children dying before their time, a theme not dissimilar to Edward Gorey's masterwork, The Gashlycrumb Tinies. Interestingly, the Dying Children drawing is the only one from this series that does not include a book.

The NYTBR supplement also included two special illustrations by Edward Gorey created especially for this issue. These drawings were created as inspiration for writers to compose a story based on the images. Nine short stories were published in the supplement. The first drawing, titled Trimming the Tree, showed our alligator being assisted by a family while placing ornaments on an tree out in the snow, far from the ancestral home in the background (see the top of the post). The second, titled The Skating Party, featured the helpful robot bringing a bowl of flaming holiday punch to a skating party. 

The NYTBR is the only time these whimsical drawings have been published all together, although a few of the images have appeared over the years on greeting cards. 

Original art images courtesy The Edward Gorey Charitable Trust.