This month I was able to take a trip to Chicago due to my spring break from school and an email with a $98 round-trip plane ticket that a dear friend(with whom I stayed) tipped me off to. On the trip, I decided to check out Loyola University Museum of Art(LUMA)’s Edward Gorey exhibition.

Gorey is famous for his slightly macabre, overly whimsical books that he both writes and illustrates himself. His signature pen and ink style, Victorian/Edwardian settings, and intricate patterns and clothing designs seem to be juxtaposed over his Chicagoan origins and his New York City residence. He was always reported to have been seen strolling down the streets of Manhattan donning lavish fur coats that he would always accompany with Converse sneakers, a big, unkempt beard, and rounded sunglasses. In his later years, he opened up his home to a family of raccoons as a way of making up for wearing their fur(his entire collection remained in storage until his death, at which point he willed his entire estate to the welfare of animals).

The exhibition is a chronology of Gorey’s work, complete with photographs of the child who would become the famous artist, hand-written letters spanning his boyhood in boarding schools to his education at Harvard(he didn’t even consider applying to Harvard until he realized that his tenure in the Army would enable him to do so), early commissioned works, his later life and participation in the Cape Cod cultural scene, and of course, original drawings and preliminary sketches. All throughout the show, there are biographical snippets and statements from those who knew and worked with him. Though he had very little formal art training(he went to Harvard for French lit), Gorey became an extremely prolific and notable illustrator.

His early days as an illustrator included working for the publisher Doubleday Anchor, where he illustrated famous works such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula, H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds, and my personal favorite(which I snagged a photo of despite not being allowed to as per LUMA’s policy), Franz Kafka’s Amerika. Soon after his career was essentially kick-started by Andreas Brown and the famed Gotham Book Mart, Gorey became a hot commodity. His books sold so well, that in 1960, he left Doubleday Anchor and never once held a 9-to-5 job again for the rest of his life!

LUMA is an interesting venue choice for the exhibition, and they let you know that they are aware of this in their introduction to the exhibit, as they place an emphasis on Medieval/Catholic art. Despite being a Chicago-native, the city has never had an exhibition of his work before now. However, the placement of the exhibition can be attributed to the fact that the collection’s owner, Thomas Michalak, being an alumnus of Loyola University. Michalak is also on the board of the Gorey house.

The exhibition was extremely inspiring. Though the style for which he is famous was always slightly disturbing, Gorey himself always carried an air of silliness about him. As soon as his art began to bring him enough money, he bought a house in Cape Cod where he kept numerous cats and other animals. Though he became known for his hand-lettered books and meticulous attention to detail in depicting Edwardian settings, Gorey always despised his handwriting and hated drawing wallpapers. One of his most famous early works, 1961′s The Hapless Child sat on the drawing board untouched because he dreaded the idea of having to spend hours on end drawing wallpapers.

Gorey’s home in Cape Cod is open for tours and has been preserved in its unkempt, “Goreyan” state on the exterior, and most of his possessions have been left relatively untouched on the interior as well. His tall, lanky stature is evident from the clothes laid out. It’s hard not to draw inspiration from the exhibit(s). What Gorey lacks in formal training and technical skill, he makes up for in the sheer character and uniqueness of his art. If you’re in Chicago through June 15th, you ought to do yourself a favor and check it out!