A Gorey Halloween
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Cartoonist Beth Wolfensberger Singer‘s comic strip for The Boston Globe today reminds me that there are a few Edward Gorey items waiting in the queue to be cued up, and what better time than the eve of Halloween Eve eve eve eve to do so. And how better to start than with Edward Gorey’s recently installed headstone?
Heath Harrison for The Ironton Tribune reveals that Gorey’s unmarked grave now is properly marked (or here):
Woodland Cemetery’s most famous interment recently got its first proper marker.
Shortly after Edward Gorey died in April 2000, at the age of 75, the ashes of the renowned author and illustrator were interred at Woodland Cemetery in Ironton, in the grave of his mother.
However, despite the artist’s worldwide fame, the interment and grave site were unknown to both locals and the general public for nearly two decades.
It was not until the publication of Mark Dery’s 2018 biography of Gorey, “Born to Posthumous,” that the location of the ashes was revealed.
On the flat stone, [Rich] Donohue wanted to use art inspired by Gorey’s 1969 book, “The Iron Tonic,” which many suspect is a title paying tribute to the artist’s ancestral home.
Donohue said such art was a bit beyond his abilities, so he enlisted the help of a friend, Charles Bee Heubach, of South Carolina, who took the image and created a file for Donohue to use.
That section of the marker also contains a quote from Gorey, “The monuments above the dead are too eroded to be read.”
Singer’s cartoon starts with another reminder – that there is an Edward Gorey exhibit currently ongoing.
For The Harvard Crimson Eleanor W, Rubun reviews the exhibit:
From now until Jan. 12, should you find yourself wandering aimlessly around Harvard Yard, consider exploring Houghton Library’s latest exhibition, “Edward Gorey: The Gloomy Gallery.” Against the gorgeous backdrop of the Edison and Newman Room, the whimsical, slightly sinister, and always bizarre illustrations of Edward S. J. Gorey ’50 take on a new, distinctly Harvard quality.
Each work featured in this collection displays Gorey’s brilliant, detail-obsessed mind, unafraid to venture into the darkest subject matter, but never without a flicker of humor to brighten the way. Gorey’s line drawings are mostly black and white and feature awkward, long-limbed, big-eyed characters who always appear to be darting around, hiding behind corners, or engaging in some strange, inexplicable behavior.
And if you are in the Cape Cod area a visit to The Edward Gorey House is not just a good idea, it’s mandatory.
As that last graphic says all illustrations, except Singer’s, are © the Edward Gorey Charitable Trust.
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