However this weekend, between decorating a cake stand and practicing calligraphy for the place settings, I managed to go to the Charles Addams' exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York. I was surprised how bustley the exhibition was considering it was sunny Sunday afternoon with highs of 72F. The mood of the room was jovial, I've never been at a show where so many people burst out laughing! It was infectious but the art was worthy which was evident from the surrounding chuckles.
Charles Addams' was a great American cartoonist/illustrator who drew over 1,500 illustrations (many of which were covers) for the New Yorker and of course he was the brain child of the Addams Family. He was born and raised in New Jersey, and said to have taken inspiration from the neighbourhood houses to create the Addams Family mansion. He drew familiar everyday life and injected humorous twists within each drawing, some of which you don't always notice on first glance. One of my favourites was this one:
It tickled me becuase the udder is not noticeable at first and it also makes me wonder where the milkman is...!! It's no wonder that he was a regular of the New Yorker, his charming and often creepy cartoons appeal to many audiences. He had a deep love of the city, it's buildings, the people and he used it as a background for his quirky unexpected stories.
Incidentally Tim Burton is directing a 3-D stop frame animation, not based on the TV series or films, but based on Charles' cartoons. It has Burton written all over in, in fact I can't believe he hasn't done it sooner, I just hope he branches out and doesn't hire Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter again!
The Charles Addams's: New York exhibition runs from March 4 – May 16, 2010.
