From: the Charles Addams Foundation
Today would be the 101st. birthday of cartoonist Charles Addams, the creator of the The Addams Family. Popular illustrators tend to develop personas. While anonymous to the general public, the cartoonists fans come to believe that what they see is who the artists is. Rarely, do the man and the myth intersect.
Coming across Addams' macabre drawings while thumbing through old issues of the New Yorker you could easily get the sense the artist lived on the top floor of an asylum. For years stories abounded of how he was carried off to Bedlam, furiously sketching his best known works. Never happened.
.jpg)
Much of his work was oddly sweet, all of it was funny, yet it was the ghoulish macabre stuff that sold the books and created the reputation.
As it turned out he was a lover of classic cars, something of a ladies man, a curious guy with an odd kick for the absurd, a self described Uncle Fester. In 1988 Addams had a heart attack and died in his parked car. His wife told the Times "He's always been a car buff, so it was a nice way to go."
Check your local library for a copy of Charles Addams, A Cartoonists Life by Linda H. Davis.
Toad
Coming across Addams' macabre drawings while thumbing through old issues of the New Yorker you could easily get the sense the artist lived on the top floor of an asylum. For years stories abounded of how he was carried off to Bedlam, furiously sketching his best known works. Never happened.
.jpg)
Much of his work was oddly sweet, all of it was funny, yet it was the ghoulish macabre stuff that sold the books and created the reputation.
As it turned out he was a lover of classic cars, something of a ladies man, a curious guy with an odd kick for the absurd, a self described Uncle Fester. In 1988 Addams had a heart attack and died in his parked car. His wife told the Times "He's always been a car buff, so it was a nice way to go."
Check your local library for a copy of Charles Addams, A Cartoonists Life by Linda H. Davis.
Toad
Posts
5 comments:
You are good at calling attention to things I never thought to wonder about.
I enjoy his cartoons in old issues of The New Yorker from the 1940s and 1950s. There is a tenderness to his macabre material that is uniquely his own. Great post.
Very interesting Unca Toad!
I have to admit I'm in deep smit with your new header ;o)
The world is a pretty curious place. Many thanks.
We saw a fantastic Charles Addams exhibit at The Museum of the City of New York several years ago.
Hands down, one of the best exhibitions I've ever seen.
Post a Comment