Charles Addams: Striking Back at Modernist Architecture

Cartoonist Charles Addams, revered for his work in The New Yorker and, of course, especially for "The Addams Family," was a lifelong student of architectural form. His tastes ran to the gothic and the macabre; the Addams Family mansion, always a magnificent ruin but never drawn the same way twice, is a case in point.

But what were his feelings toward the modernist architectural movement? Well, his New Yorker cartoon of June 20, 1959, (created, incidentally, a full five years before "The Addams Family" television series) may offer a humorous hint. 

Charles Addams
Original art
The New Yorker, June 20, 1959, p. 29

Addams chose a church upon which to vent the wrath of God. It's a real one, or it was, the Church of the Good Shepherd in Kansas City, Missouri. It was built, apparently, in the postwar period. If it still stands today, it has metamorphosed into something entirely more traditional in appearance.

Charles Addams
Framed and matted original art
The New Yorker, June 20, 1959, p. 29

In some ways, modernist architecture is too easy a target for a wit as sly as Addams's. Even sophisticated readers of The New Yorker may have taken umbrage at the most recent changes to the national landscape. With the Addams cartoon, we can take a certain delight as we identify with the irritation of the man upstairs.

Last year the original art was sold at Bonhams. The auction house correctly identified the building Addams so convincingly depicted, but seemed ignorant of the drawing's publication history.

Charles Addams
Bonhams auction listing of October 24, 2024

Hammer price $6,000

Charles Addams
The New Yorker, June 20, 1959, p. 29

Charles Addams
Original art
The New Yorker, June 20, 1959, p. 29

With a spot drawing by Judith Shahn and a cartoon by Charles Addams. The text is James Thurber's.

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1959-06-20/flipbook/028/

A 1951 press photo shows the church at ground level. Could this have been Addams's reference photo?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/326622409789? . . .

* * * 

Before we go, would you care for some tea?

Spot drawing
Judith Shahn

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Retrofuturist Modernism: Whitney Darrow, Jr., On Campus with Max Shulman

Once again, illustration art by Whitney Darrow, Jr., is hard to decipher on its own. The original art from 1967 looks forward to the year 2079 when space travel and modernism are all the rage, and President Chester A. Arthur is improbably relevant. The accompanying file sticker suggests this art was created for Personna razor blades, but that might be a red herring. The name of humorist Max Shulman is written on the overlay, so this very well could be a column illustration for "On Campus with Max Shulman." Suddenly, it all makes sense. Almost. [See the newly added quotation and the column below.]

"This mathematical curiosity will not occur again until the year 2079, but we will all be so busy then celebrating the Chester A. Arthur bi-centenerary that we will scarcely have time to be writing papers and letters and like that."

Whitney Darrow, Jr.
eBay listing ended October 20, 2022

https://www.ebay.com/itm/144613411083?hash=item21aba1890b%3Ag%3AmgEAAOSwKY1iseSg&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoPRWpsKFKyx4lilbDIkbHHvkkpjKu4IWPNDBSpsXf%2FAcJMoHg9EP1r%2BwpASW2L3sMVY4Y5%2FbyR1zDaEQ321KRLue6O5TaTRQ5CeXnTwiVWe32bJihX4mb0YvtjJfIHmBQB3axzMlPEkMzLUm1ZRLpXhrdkhvpgUzPFtZrChbhBFNc9SF4oGsokOThA3qyIns2A0BM8cM7L6yi%2FtyAv24KOA%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR-6ygKKxYQ&nma=true&si=64J6TuENCQvl%252FEQuIbsoMEcDQlw%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Whitney Darrow, Jr.
eBay item description 

Note:  Where, pray tell, are the print media that correspond to Whitney Darrow's original art? At least one blogger wants to know. Can you help?

It finally occurs to me that any or all of the mysterious Personna ads by Darrow I have previously chronicled might actually be column illustrations for "On Campus with Max Shulman."

April 8, 2023 Update:  Ah, here it is.

https://www.industrydocuments.ucsf.edu/docs/#id=zfbv0004

And, better still:

"1968:  Its Cause and Cure"
On Campus with Max Shulman
The Winonan
Winona State College, Winona, MN
January 11, 1968, p. 3

https://openriver.winona.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1144&context=thewinonan1960s

"This mathematical curiosity will not occur again until the year 2079, but we will all be so busy then celebrating the Chester A. Arthur bi-centenerary that we will scarcely have time to be writing papers and letters and like that."

"This mathematical curiosity will not occur again until the year 2979, but we will all be so busy then celebrating the Chester A. Arthur bi-centenerary that we will scarcely have time for writing papers and letters and like that."

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The Dream House: Constantin Alajálov New Yorker Cover Art

Sure, Constantin Alajálov's New Yorker cover of May 15, 1954 is in its essence a comment on postwar real estate development, but it doesn't depict a typical suburban tract. Instead, we get to see this average-looking couple's dream house and--surprise!--it's modernist. Alajálov has used his prodigious skills as an illustrator not only to show us what can't be shown in any other medium, but also to subvert our conventional expectations. What a fine illustration this is!

Constantin Alajálov, Framed original artwork, The New Yorker, May 15, 1954

Back in 2007 when this original artwork was sold, I was a novice at preserving online auction sales records although I did make one or two halting attempts. This blog did not exist in those days, of course; I was copying the sales records for myself and I knew better than to try my hand at anything so preposterous as writing a blog. This Alajálov piece is one of those rare eBay auctions from that time period that I did manage somehow to archive, unnecessarily, as it turns out. The auction house's own online archive still records the sale. A bit of redundancy is good for the internet, no?

The eBay record:

 The Pook & Pook auction house record, which includes the 22% buyer's premium:

http://www.pookandpook.com/cat/2007-10-26/260

Constantin Alajálov, The New Yorker, May 15, 1954

Note:  Am I alone in this? It occurs to me that there must be other folks with a similar obsessive bent and perhaps a better track record than mine at preserving old auction sales of vintage illustration art. If you are likewise afflicted and you'd like to share your archival records of relevant auctions here, please get in touch.

Constantin Alajálov was no one-hit wonder. See other blog posts about him here.

Would you care to see more original New Yorker cover art? You've come to the right place! Check out the archives here.

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