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?

Cheekwood Mansion Visit 10/14/2022

I was early to Nashville, TN, before checking into my hotel and heading to the Ghostbusters in Concert event.  Though I had prepared to visit on Saturday 10/15, I instead chose to visit the Charles Addams Exhibit at Cheekwood Mansion on Friday 10/14.  Before I post those images, I wanted to share this about the beautiful mansion which is now an art gallery and botanic gardens.

Built in 1929, Cheekwood was the residence of the creator of Maxwell House Coffee, Leslie Cheek, Sr, and Mable Wood Cheek.  In 1957, Cheekwood was left to the public as a museum of art and botanic gardens.  The first floor now represents a museum to show fancy living in the 1930s, and the second floor is the art gallery.

So much more to see than in these images, so make sure you go!