Inside the World of Charles Addams - 10/14/2022

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?