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.