As soon as I ever learned that
Cheekwood Mansion in Nashville, TN, would host the exhibit
Inside the World of Charles Addams, I knew I had to go.
Charles Addams is one of my favorite cartoon artists, and created The Addams Family. His twisted humor from the macabre has always been funny; but, one thing people ignore when they read his comics are the beautiful ways he created the artwork - pencil, pen, ink, wash, paint, and more. The pieces are larger than imaginable - often, it seemed as if they were 18" x 20", bigger or smaller.
I hope this post will help people see his art and appreciate the work he's done and become fans as well. I left the images full-size so people can open them on their computers and really appreciate the line work.
I love process images, and as I have them from the exhibit I'll share them here. I love this trio from pencil, to clean-up (with notes!), to the final piece. I did a quick video over the art so you can appreciate it even more!
"To think we went to all this trouble and not a single foe showed up!"
A light (bulb) meal
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Again, the opportunity to appreciate the preliminaries before the final piece.
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"Of course, Machiavelli tells it better than I ever could."
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Coliseum, 1955. Here, you can appreciate the techniques used to create the daydream of his wife in the lion's den.
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The details in this famous piece is amazing!
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More special details to his technique.
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"You wouldn't dare! You wouldn't DARE! You wouldn't..." 1955
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Preliminaries and final piece. What all differences can you spot?
I don't know why it reminded me of this image; but,
here's an article about a little known painting of The Family.
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The awesome way he could tell a story without any dialogue.
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"Suddenly I have the dreadful urge to be merry."
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Is THIS the most sincere pumpkin patch?
