G is for Gorey who's ghastly and great - Harvard Gazette

"A pair of disembodied hands thrusts a cake topped with candles through an open window. A nearby menu announces only one course: cold boiled owl. A figure glances worriedly at an accumulation of boxes of chocolate. The caption: "The Horror of Having a Birthday." The offbeat illustration is one of several unpublished works by the late artist Edward Gorey '50, on display in a new exhibit at Houghton Library."

"" Edward Gorey: The Gloomy Gallery " playfully engages with Gorey's foreboding yet oddly cozy imagination, with its world-weary malaise, and its whimsical embrace of the nonsensical. "Edward Gorey is an incredibly special figure, and we are very happy to celebrate him on the 100th year since his birth," Molly Schwartzburg, Philip Hofer Curator of Printing and Graphic Arts at Houghton Library, said at an opening reception on Sept. 4."

"The exhibition, which is free and open to the public, marks Gorey's 100th birthday and the 75th anniversary of his graduation from Harvard College. The pieces are drawn from the Houghton Library's extensive holdings on the artist and span his career. Of note are recently acquired works, including the "Birthday" piece, which Gorey gave to Tony Smith, his Harvard classmate and Eliot House roommate. The illustrations were passed down to Smith's daughter, Barbie Selby, who attended the opening reception."

Houghton Library presents Edward Gorey: The Gloomy Gallery, an exhibition of unpublished and published works spanning Gorey's career. The show features offbeat, macabre, and whimsical illustrations, including a "Birthday" drawing of disembodied hands, candles, and a menu offering cold boiled owl. The exhibition marks Gorey's 100th birthday and the 75th anniversary of his Harvard graduation. Newly acquired pieces reveal connections to Gorey's Harvard life, French literature classes, World War II experiences, and relationships with classmates such as Tony Smith. The exhibit is free, open to the public, and drawn from Houghton Library's extensive Gorey holdings.

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