Edward Gorey may not be a household name, but his art is
easily identified by lovers of dark, cautionary tales and by
viewers of PBS’s
Mystery!
The animated opening credits for the
television show highlight Gorey in his prime. An Edwardian
heroine finds herself hanging off a parapet. She cries for help in
a high pitched voice as part of the building falls, landing with
a thud on a croquet ball. Her scarf blows away, and she is left
distraught in the pouring rain.
Gorey’s style is unmistakable for his predominately black and
white, fine-line drawings of troublesome children, attenuated
fops, invented anthropomorphic animals, and Mr. Earbrass,
uncomfortably like the artist himself. There are hints of English
artists Aubrey Beardsley (1872–1898) and Eric Gill (1882–1940)
in the way Gorey puts ink on paper; Gorey’s style is much,
much lighter in spirit.
This winter, the Loyola University Museum of Art and the
Loyola University Chicago Libraries present two, in-depth
exhibitions that cover a range of Gorey’s work, including books
and plays he wrote, envelopes he doodled on, and puppet shows
he created.
Elegant Enigmas: The Art of Edward Gorey
was organized by
the Brandywine River Museum with the cooperation of the
Edward Gorey Charitable Trust. The exhibition has been
traveling for several years, and it is fitting that its last stop is
Chicago, the place of his birth and early education. While living
in the Windy City, he attended high school at Francis W. Parker
School where he received a progressive education.
G is for Gorey—C for Chicago: The Thomas Michalak Collection
demonstrates just how successful Gorey was as an author
and illustrator; his posters, playbills, book covers, prints, and
commercial products were developed from his works. His
success took Gorey out of the publishing world and into the
realm of popular culture.
Tom Michalak, an alumnus of Loyola University Chicago and
board member of the Edward Gorey House in Yarmouth Port,
Massachusetts, has been collecting Gorey materials since the 1970s.
The Loyola University Chicago Libraries is the fortunate recipient
of his generous gift—Tom’s Gorey collection, along with a major
collection of British political cartoons. A former librarian, he
loves illustrated books, a passion apparent in his collections.
This second exhibition deals with Gorey’s personal life and
influences of several people in his life: his great grandmother,
Helena Saint John Garvey, who was a greeting card writer and
artist; his high school friends, Barney Rosset—founder of Grove
Press—and abstract expressionist Joan Mitchell; his father,
Edward Lee Gorey, who briefly worked as a journalist; and his
stepmother Corrina Mura, who had a small role in
Casablanca
(
she played the guitar and sang in Rick’s Café Américain). Gorey
briefly took classes at the School of the Art Institute before
joining the army. At the end of World War II, he attended
Harvard University. A few years after he graduated, he moved
to New York. There he began a long association with the Gotham
Book Mart, which has been credited with building the success of
Gorey’s career. A frequent visitor to the Gotham, he was a
noticeable character in his floor-length fur coat and tennis shoes.
By PAMELA E. AMBROSE
It’s in the Laughter.
