I learned via the educational wonder known as the Google Doodle that today is Edward Gorey’s birthday. He would have been 88. Weird to think he was two years younger than my father, and the same age as my mother. I don’t think they had much in common. On second thought, maybe they did. I recently read (in this article) that Edward Gorey loved to watch TV. All kinds of TV. Dumb sitcoms, soap operas, “The X-Files.” Makes me feel a little better about the amount of TV I watch. I wonder if he worked with the TV on…?
Edward Gorey was, and is, one of my biggest artistic influences. I’ve worn holes in the pages of all three Amphigorey books. I can spend hours (it seems) absorbed in the sublime nonsense of “The Willowdale Handcar,” “L’heure Bleue,” and “The Iron Tonic,” or lovingly lost in the exquisite lines and textures of “The West Wing.” Always a fan of crosshatching, I’ve shamelessly copied his style almost every time I’ve used pen and ink. I can’t quite help it. I also quote him from time to time (almost nobody knows what I’m talking about, but I’m used to that.)
That would make a nice tattoo.
Edward Gorey links:
Edward Gorey House (Also weird to think he lived 10 miles away from my grandmother. I never knew that until long after my grandmother died.)