Gorey's Worlds

If you're one of those people, like me, who enjoy dark humor then I expect that you're also a fan of Edward Gorey. Many people recognize his cartoonish intro to Masterpiece Theater, but may not know much about him. My husband and I recently attended the exhibit Gorey's Worlds at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, CT as well as rough cuts of the film The Edward Gorey Documentary Project.

The exhibit centers around a collection of art that Gorey bequeathed to the Wadsworth Atheneum. This is art that Gorey collected himself. The Wadsworth had no idea they were in Gorey's will and were quite surprised to hear they were receiving his collection. In the book accompanying the exhibit, the first sentence made me laugh.

"Edward Gorey may have thought of it as 'The Doubtful Bequest,' because its arrival was unannounced, like the peculiar visitor in one of his stories."

(Gorey wrote a book called The Doubtful Guest.) Because of our schedule, I actually ended up reading the accompanying exhibit book, Gorey's Worlds, before attending the show and I'm glad it worked out that way. It gave me more insight into how much Gorey's illustrations were influenced by other artists- many of the ones he collected. For instance, the book points out features between a sketch of a women by Balthus (Etude de Personnages) and Edward Gorey's illustration of a women he did for "The Listing Attic." Gorey collected widely including French, American, Folk, and Contemporary art.

The exhibit is curated by Erin Monroe, the Robert H. Shutz Jr. Associate Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture at the Wadsworth, and she does it with a sense of humor. I was keeping my expectations low for viewing the exhibit because I was imagining it would be more about the other artists than about Gorey, but was delighted to see that Gorey's art was everywhere. Literally! Not only was his art next to the works that inspired him, but it was in the frames of videos, applied to the walls and even his fur coats were hung from the ceiling. His love of ballet was demonstrated with a tiny stage where viewers could put on tutus and take photos. (I tried to get my husband to put on a tutu-he refused.)

I did not want to leave. I was giddy with excitement. We decided then and there that we must paint our walls like the museum, but we were high on art at the time and lost sight of the fact that our walls are barely visible under all the art we have hanging so it wouldn't have the same effect. Oh well. Next house.

I can't finish without mentioning that if you get a chance to see a lecture by Christopher Seufert, the writer/director/producer of The Edward Gorey Documentary Project please do it. The film is a work in progress as Seufert raises money and kids. We viewed short clips of Gorey talking about his art and heard Seufert describe how he became involved in the project. The clips are funny and make me wish I could have met Gorey. He truly seemed to live in his own world. You can support the project by purchasing a poster. We now have one signed by Seufert! The poster artist is Bob Staake, a New Yorker cover artist.

The exhibit will be up at the Wadsworth Atheneum until May 6th. If you're within a 3 hour drive, make sure you see it before it goes. You won't be disappointed. (And, by the way, Hartford now has three great breweries worth a visit after you see the exhibit.)