Collection: Edward Gorey
Chicago, IL
Edward Gorey left an indelible mark as a writer, artist, illustrator, and Tony Award-winning costume and set designer. Renowned for his peculiar sense of humor embedded within his stories, Gorey's distinctive narrative style and recognizable cross-hatching technique, frequently executed with pen and ink, set him apart in the world of creative expression. As aptly written by curator and friend of Gorey's Karen Wilkin “The facts of my life are so few, tedious, and irrelevant to anything else, there is no point in going into them,” Edward St. John Gorey told an interviewer, which should reduce his biography to “born February 22, 1925, Chicago; died April 15, 2000, Barnstable, MA,” with a mention of his idiosyncratic writings and drawings. It’s true that there is no overt drama in Gorey’s history and no fraught relationships. Instead, there is an astonishing dedication to work, as well as to arcane films, ballet, TV sitcoms, cats, and collecting books, used toys, and miscellany, plus enormous erudition, and connections with some of the most significant literary figures of his generation.
The mission of the Edward Gorey Charitable Trust is to honor the creative and philanthropic legacy of Edward Gorey through preservation and promotion of his literary and artistic works and support of the animal welfare causes to which he was devoted.
