The Boston Athenæum to Show Elegant Enigmas: The Art of Edward Gorey

Written by Meg Garrison Monday, 01 August 2011 20:42

BOSTON, MA - Carnivorous plants, falling masonry, and uninvited guests fill the imaginary world of artist and author Edward Gorey. His stories and accompanying illustrations maintain a delicate balance between the hilarious and the horrific.  While the images that accompany Gorey's minimalist text appear simple, the pen work is often complex. These eloquent images might complement his text and on other occasions raise puzzling questions. Gorey rarely depicts murder or mayhem, portraying instead the actions that precede an event or suggest the immediate aftermath. His characters' lack of emotion encourages the viewer to supplement the ongoing narrative. The result is often a delicate balance between the hilarious and ominous uncertainty. When asked about the effect of his work on readers Gorey replied, "In a way I hope it is mildly unsettling."

Gorey’s voracious consumption of literature, his love of the ballet, and his off beat and wry view of the world resulted in a sardonic and witty oeuvre. This exhibition explores the diversity of Gorey’s art through original pen and ink illustrations, preparatory sketches, unpublished drawings, and ephemera. Drawn from the holdings of the Gorey Charitable Trust, the exhibition includes approximately 180 objects, including selections from The Gashlycrumb Tinies, The Unstrung Harp, The Gilded Bat, and other well-known Gorey publications. 

Gorey's imaginative and often enigmatic books are filled with Edwardian-inspired images of genteel ladies, men in smoking jackets, children in pinafores and sailor suits, and maids in proper uniform. The stories are a mixture of the ordinary and the ominous, with non sequiturs and brief statements that often leave as much to the imagination as they reveal. They cover a wide array of subjects from the ballet to a haunted tea-cosy to wickedly funny "alphabet" books, showcasing his finely detailed pen and ink drawings.

Edward St. John Gorey (1925-2000) was born in Chicago, educated at Harvard, and lived in New York. He wrote over 100 books, including The Gashlycrumb Tinies, The Doubtful Guest, and The Wuggly Ump; created prize-winning set and costume designs for productions for theaters from Cape Cod to Broadway; and published illustrations in publications such as the New Yorker and the New York Times and for books by authors such as Charles Dickens, Edward Lear, Samuel Beckett, John Updike, Virginia Woolf, and H.G. Wells. His animated credits for the PBS series Mystery introduced him to millions of television viewers. His masterful pen and ink illustrations and his ironic, offbeat humor have brought him critical acclaim and an avid following throughout the world. 

This exhibition is organized by the Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue by curator and critic Karen Wilkin. The exhibition is organized at the Boston Athenæum by David B. Dearinger, Susan Morse Hilles Curator of Paintings & Sculpture. On view at The Boston Athenæum from February 9 - June 3, 2011. Visit : http://www.bostonathenaeum.org/