I recently added two pieces of original art by Edward Gorey to my collection. This exciting pair of unfinished pieces with a Christmas theme was obviously intended to be a front and rear cover of...something? The lightly penciled in guide lines indicate a place for a title above each image and the artist has sketched in EDWARD GOREY below each drawing. The drawing style and characters pictured firmly indicate that this pair of drawings was executed in or around 1990. The large 8" x 8" image size and formal lettering suggests these pieces were going to be covers for a book or possibly a boxed set of books.
The central feature of both drawings is a pair of leafless tree trunks that have grown together to form an arch. In a typical Gorey visual turn, the front and rear covers show views of the same arch from opposite sides, but the rest of the details have changed. The front cover has had more finish work completed, with the arch and several of the figures being completely finished. This pair of drawings is a fascinating study on how Edward Gorey approached a project. After sketching in the basics in pencil, he first inked a fine outline to define the main elements.
On the front cover, a classic Gorey family consisting of a father, mother and baby in swaddling clothes. The woman (mother?) is busy making what we might assume to be a Christmas list. In her unfinished state, she has the appearance of a ghost or phantom, but Mr Gorey has simply not finished drawing her in completely.
Appearing to the left of the arch is a strange figure dressed in an apron, bowler hat, collar, cuffs, and shoes with white spats. It is unclear if this figure is otherwise clothed or naked. The face appears to be covered by the same skin tight fabric as the rest of their body. Edward Gorey often drew stealthy cat burglar figures covered from head to toe in a body stocking in this manner, so the identity of the figure is left to our imagination. Is the identity of this person a waiter, servant, entertainer, or that of a nefarious personage? This person's pose also indicates that they may have just thrown the fruitcake tied with a ribbon that is flying above the arch. The trailing ribbon indicates that the fruitcake is on a trajectory rather than floating or gently falling from the sky.
The central trio of well dressed children on the rear cover may or may not be related to the family on the front. A helpful robot and an alligator flank the arch, each supplied with footstools to extend their reach. All the figures on the rear cover are busy decorating the arch with Christmas ornaments. Edward Gorey has completed less line work on the rear cover, but what has been filled in is rather wonderful. Edward Gorey has fully rendered the alligator and the body of the robot. He had also begun to fill in the arch, but did not get very far.
What the project was or why it remains unfinished will probably never be known, but we can make a couple of guesses. The figures all relate to a suite of drawings Edward Gorey created for A Very Gorey Christmas in The New York Times Book Review (see my post from December 2, 2024 https://goreyana.blogspot.com/2024/12/a-gorey-christmas.html). Perhaps the publishers or Mr. Gorey himself intended to publish the illustrated writings but the project stalled.
Another amusing theory concerns the stain on the upper left corner of the drawing for the rear cover. Edward Gorey is on record as stating that he gave his cats free reign in the house and occasionally they would walk over his drawing table and spill the ink bottle, damaging a work in progress. This stain in the upper right hand corner certainly has the appearance of a cat-spill, and even though the black ink did not encroach into the image area it may have been enough to halt the drawing. We shall never know.
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